Miriam mulls presidential bid after being named in 'pork' list

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Wednesday denounced her inclusion in Benhur Luy's list of officials allegedly involved in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

In a statement, Santiago reacted to a newspaper report which said that based on Luy's digital files, she was among the 25 past and present senators who had transactions with suspected scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.

Santiago said all the documents revealed in the said report and list were "fake" and that she had no clue about the alleged details.

"The Luy list has no proof of the attestation of any public document, and no proof of the authenticity of any private document. Thus, the Luy list constitutes no proof at all against me and others like me. The Luy list is nothing but mudslinging. How sad for our country that such villainy can come to pass," Santiago said.

Saying her name was only used, Santiago then pondered on the possibility of running for president again due to the continuing corruption in the government.

"If corruption is this bad, maybe I should run for president, on the same anti-corruption platform from which I have fulminated all these years," she said.

Earlier this week, it was Santiago who urged the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to obtain Luy's list to settle the conflicting claims of Napoles and rehab czar Panfilo Lacson.

Read: Another list: Miriam wants Luy's testimony tagging 200 people

Napoles gave her own list and supposed "tell-all" affidavit to Justice Secretary Leila De Lima while Lacson claimed that he also got another list from the businesswoman's husband.

Santiago initially believed that Luy's list was "definitive and substantiated" compared to Lacson's "spurious documents inadmissible in evidence."

But the senator seems to be singing a different tune now. She said Luy's list turned out to be not authenticated under the Rules of Court and that Napoles and her cohorts merely forged documents and stole her identity.

"My name has been used in vain by the Napoles Gang of thieves. I thought that if the Luy list included documents, they would first be authenticated, before publication. Silly me," Santiago said.

The feisty senator said she will confront Luy and Napoles if they appear at the Senate. She also gave a stern warning to those who supposedly used her identity in the pork barrel scam.

"Someone has made money by using my name, and I will make that person pay, big time," Santiago said.