Napoles' camp asks tagged senators to stay away from hearing

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of Janet Lim Napoles expressed a "moral plea" for senators to inhibit themselves from the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee proceedings.

In an interview with ANC on Monday, Napoles' lawyer, Bruce Rivera, said that his client is willing to appear for the second time in the Senate panel inquiry, but lawmakers tagged in the "pork barrel" scam may pose unhelpful questions.

"It is a moral plea because we don't want it to be an accusatorial [hearing]," Rivera said.

Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon "Bong" Revilla, Jr. face plunder charges before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly embezzling Priority Development Assistance Funds to Napoles' fraudulent organizations.

Also named in Napoles' list of other scam operators the Department of Justice disclosed to the Senate committee are Senators Aquilino Pimentel III, Loren Legarda, Alan Peter Cayetano, Gringo Honasan, Francis Escudero, Vicente Sotto as well as former Senator Manuel Villar and the late Robert Barbers.

Rivera asked the senators to let Napoles explain her testimony publicly.

"If they really just want to grandstand and just accuse her and tell her she's a liar, they can do that in the Ombudsman," Rivera said.

The lawyer said Napoles, suspected of masterminding the scam, will name three more senators in a second affidavit. He also said there are likely no more Cabinet officials who will be tagged.

"It is because the transactions are not just in 2007 to 2009. It started in 2000. So siyempre it was a very long list of transactions and you tend to forget, she does not have a photographic memory that you know every nook and cranny," Rivera said.

"When she checked her transaction records, ay meron pala ako nito. Ay may deal pala ako nito," he added.

He also claimed that the detained businesswoman has documentary trail to back her statements, which may be different from Benhur's.

The records, moreover, are in the form of a list that is handwritten because Napoles does not know how to use a computer.

"It is not in a book. She wrote them down. She has not only checks but vouchers," Rivera said.

The legal counsel had also defended his client from accusations that she lied during the Blue Ribbon Committee hearing in November in denying she is aware of the scam.

Also read: Napoles lied in Senate? She was afraid, lawyer says

Rivera said that Napoles was afraid to accuse those who were present in the hearing and was distraught.