Miriam to Gigi: Pin down JPE

MANILA, Philippines - Jessica Lucilla “Gigi” Reyes, former chief of staff of Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, should return to the country and turn state witness against her former boss, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said yesterday.

“As a humble friend of this young woman… I feel that her best revenge would be to return the money that Enrile stole because I am sure that attorney Gigi Reyes is in charge of safekeeping meant to be laundered abroad, and then turn tables on Enrile by coming home and turning state witness,” she said.

“I grieve as a neighbor and as a friend of Atty. Gigi Reyes that she is now being, in Tagalog, she is now hinuhulog, na siya na lang ang may kasalanan (made into a fall guy),” she added.

Santiago and Reyes are neighbors at La Vista Subdivision in Quezon City.

Santiago expressed belief that Enrile used Reyes as a front in his pork barrel dealings. “Naturally, they have an agreement that she will follow the orders of her boss. It was unlikely that Reyes, a graduate of the University of the Philippines School of Law, will do this alone,” she said.

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee resumed its hearing on the pork barrel scam yesterday with state witness Benhur Luy along with Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Technology Resource Center (TRC) director general-on leave Dennis Cunanan in attendance.

Stand-alone culprit

Santiago said she got the impression from the recent TV interview of Cristina Enrile that they wanted to make a stand-alone culprit out of Reyes “for all the kickbacks he received.”

She was referring to Cristina’s revelation on GMA-7’s “Bawal ang Pasaway” program that her husband had 38 affairs throughout their 57 years of marriage, but that he is not corrupt.

Cristina also admitted that her husband’s affair with Reyes, which she said was the longest, prompted her to seek a divorce in the United States.

Santiago said Reyes seems to be a victim of a “lurid scheme that was masterminded by a person I can only call as a sexually dysfunctional old man.”

Reyes was being made to “take the criminal blame not only for his plunder, but also for his moral turpitude in the sense of sexual addiction openly displayed as a public official,” she added.

Cunanan said his office dealt with Enrile’s office, of which “the chief of staff has the authority.”

He also cited the Commission on Audit (COA) report that Enrile “authenticated” the signatures of his representatives in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) documents.

Conspiracy

Santiago noted that in conspiracy, the act of one is the act of all. “You don’t really have to take part in the crime as long as there is a unity of design and there is unanimity in the mindset,” she noted.

She cited paragraph 32 of Cunanan’s affidavit that discussed how the drafts and documents purported to be the pork barrel allocations of Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla were apparently prepared by one and the same person or groups of persons. –With Aurea Calica