MIRIAM SEEKS LUY LIST OF PORK 200

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, member of the Senate blue ribbon committee, sent a letter to committee chair Teofisto Guingona III, recommending that the committee should hold a public hearing to request whistleblower Benhur Luy to testify on his own list, said to include 200 people, who allegedly received kickbacks from Janet Napoles, alleged mastermind of the P10 B pork barrel scam.

Santiago said that only the Luy list would be "definitive and substantiated," as compared to what she called "spurious documents inadmissible in evidence" claimed by Napoles, Panfilo Lacson, and Sandra Cam.

"Last Monday (May 12), President Aquino was reported as saying in Naypyitaw, Burma, that he has been shown two lists, both from Napoles, and another list from Lacson. The President reportedly said that each list refers to the other. The President reportedly expressed the suspicion that certain quarters are 'trying to crowd the issue. This supports my humble claim for the Luy list," she said.

Luy's parents allegedly went to a national newspaper (Inquirer) last year and submitted a hard drive reportedly containing the complete files of Benhur as finance officer of Napoles.

Through his lawyer Raji Mendoza, Luy apparently expressed consent to the release of the records which were originally stored in a laptop.

The incriminatory laptop was submitted to Napoles as the price for allowing his family to see Luy, when he was detained by Napoles.

However, unknown to Napoles, Luy allegedly made a backup file on his hard drive detailing each lawmaker and other public officials, and the amount of kickbacks they individually received.

According to the newspaper that broke the story yesterday (May 12), the newspaper copied the files in the hard drive which contains the list of people who allegedly received money from Napoles, described as: "lawmakers, department heads, a former Supreme Court justice, popular media personalities, heads of government-owned and -controlled, corporations, government employees of various agencies, local government officials, lawyers, military officials, showbiz personalities, employees of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and private individuals."

It appears from the Luy records that public funds were stolen not only from the pork barrel allocations, but also from the Malampaya funds, Commission on Appointments, certain media blitz of government organizations, plus "budget insertions, allocations for hard project like farm-to-market-roads, appropriation funds for calamities, nationwide equipment enhancement programs, and department savings,"

Santiago, a former multiawarded RTC judge, said that in addition to testimonial knowledge, the Luy list would be admissible in evidence as allowed by the Rules of Court.

The former judge also said that the Luy list could be admitted as "commercial lists and the like, which are considered admissible," as tending to prove the truth of any relevant matter.

Santiago said that all other self-proclaimed lists from Napoles, Lacson, and Cam were likely fictional and polluted," because they appear to be sourced from one or all of the three senators indicted by the Ombudsman for plunder.

In an interview yesterday (May 12) with Radyo Inquirer, Santiago said that each of the three claimants with his or her own version of a list could be acting as attack dogs of the indicted senators.

She said that under the Rules of Court, Napoles suffers from the disputable presumption that evidence wilfully suppressed would be adverse if produced.

"Napoles refused to talk about the Luy list, because it would be adverse to Napoles herself," Santiago said.

Encl.: Santiago letter to Guingona.