The Department of Justice will also investigate the P10- million rewards dangled by the Aquino administration for the arrest of suspected pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Napoles during the height of the controversy involving the lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II made the disclosure after he received information that Malacañang under the previous administration had offered the reward for any information that would lead to the arrest of Napoles.
“But it was not known who claimed that reward, if it was even claimed. When Napoles surrendered, they were told that someone claimed the reward,” Aguirre said in an interview.
When asked who claimed the reward, the DoJ chief said his information pointed to a “high official in Malacañang.”
Aguirre did not name the former official, but hinted that the official had a Cabinet rank and was “first among equals.”
According to the Justice secretary, Napoles would discuss this controversy in the affidavit she is set to submit to the DoJ as bared by her lawyer Stephen David during their recent meeting.
Earlier, Aguirre said that the reinvestigation on the PDAF scam would look into several unanswered questions on the controversy. Aguirre was puzzled why Napoles went straight to Malacañang when she surrendered at the peak of the controversy and why was she even accompanied by then President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas to the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crime.
He also asked what happened to the brother of jailed pork barrel queen Janet Lim-Napoles, Reynald “Jojo” Lim as he ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to look into an information that Napoles was “blackmailed” by a certain group that was holding his brother.
Meanwhile, Aguirre insisted that there was selective justice in the handling of the pork barrel cases under the previous administration. He debunked recent statement made by former President Aquino that his administration was not selective because the DOJ recommended the indictment of their political allies like former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority head and now Senator Joel Villanueva.
“Well, that’s his opinion. But the fact is there were only few indicted in court when in all three years of
investigation there were so many violators in the PDAF scam that were found,” Aguirre said.
He reiterated that only three former senators – Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. – were charged before the Sandiganbayan when there were about a dozen senators and over 100 congressmen implicated in the pork barrel scam.
Aguirre vowed that the reinvestigation on the scam would not be selective just like in the previous administration. The reinvestigation on PDAF scam came after the Court of Appeals acquitted Napoles earlier this month in the illegal detention case filed by pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy before the Makati regional trial court.
Napoles remains in detention since she is still facing plunder, graft and malversation charges before theSandiganbayan, along with Enrile, Estrada and Revilla.
Meanwhile, detained senator and former justice secretary Leila de Lima said that
“only fools will still believe Aguirre and Napoles.”
“The woman who stole billions in the PDAF Scam is now being glorified to turn state witness against targeted opposition personalities,” De Lima said, referring to Napoles.
“What makes her anticipated complaint different from the lies she said in the past? A new-found morality?” asked De Lima who remains inside the PNP Custodian Center inside Camp Crame on what she claimed were trumped-up drug charges.
De Lima said Napoles has “apparently cut a deal with the devils of this regime.”
She said the Department of Justice has turned in a department for the persecution of the oppos
“Partnerships with criminals no longer surprise us, this government having embraced criminality and impunity, its president being a mass murderer.Expect a complaint substantiated with nothing but Napoles’s worthless words, and Aguirre’s reputation for fake accusations,” said De Lima.
She said justice in the Philippines is now a joke, the biggest joke since Aguirre was appointed Secretary
of Justice.
“Unfortunately, it’s a joke that imprisons and punishes the innocent and rewards criminals. Shameful to the core! Nakakasuka na sila…” further De Lima said.
De Lima was the justice secretary when Napoles was investigated and slapped with criminal charges before the Office of the Ombudsman.
Buy Aguirre said he was informed by Napoles’ lawyer that she would file charges against De Lima, former Budget Sec. Florencio Abad, and Senators Franklin Drilon and Antonio Trillanes IV, among others, in connection with the pork barrel scam.
