MANILA, Philippines – The lawyer of the whistleblowers who have implicated Janet Lim-Napoles as the alleged mastermind of a multi-billion-peso pork barrel scam has a bounty on his head.

And so do Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Chief Nonnatus Rojas.

Levi Baligod, the counsel of former employees of Napoles, said he had received information that a “group” wants him and the two officials who are on top of the pork barrel investigation dead.

Baligod was at the NBI Friday, August 16, to tell the agency the information he had received.

According to Baligod, the initial offer for the death of the 3 targets was apparently P25 million, before negotiations. The bounty on Baligod alone was P3 million.

The group, he said, hired two squads: 5 men from Basilan who will serve as the hitmen, and a group of ex-Marines to do the surveillance work on the targets.

A friend’s relative in Zamboanga relayed the information to Baligod. That relative was one of the hitmen that the group tried to recruit.

“When [the hit man] found out the person who recruited them was this person, and this issue came out in the newspapers, they realized that the target could be their relative’s friend (Baligod) and that’s how the information got to us. We’re having the information pursued,” Baligod said.

The recruitment happened about 10 days ago, said Baligod.

He refused to give any names or say it is Napoles behind the recruitment, although Napoles has ties to Basilan and the military. Napoles’ family on the maternal side is from Basilan, while her husband Jimmy is a former member of the Marines.

“Eventually, when I have the sufficient evidence to say this person went to this place to speak to these people… then I’ll reveal it and we’ll file the appropriate charges,” he said.

Baligod is the lawyer of Benhur Luy, Napoles’ former assistant turned whistleblower after he was allegedly kidnapped by Napoles and her brother, Reynald Lim. The kidnapping led to the Makati Regional Trial Court’s issuance of arrest warrants against the siblings for serious illegal detention.

The National Bureau of Investigation is currently probing the two’s involvement in the pork barrel scam, with the help of Luy and 5 other former Napoles employees.

The whistleblowers too?

Baligod said he has not received information the whistleblowers are being targeted by this same group, although he said there was an attempt to kill one whistleblower that failed.

Baligod said only two of the 6 whistleblowers are under the Witness Protection Program (WPP). There is an outstanding offer from De Lima to put the other 4 witnesses under the WPP.

He said the whistleblowers are all ready for the consequences of coming forward, and are willing to do what it takes for the truth to come out.

“These are just 6 ordinary people who only have the truth to hold on to. Because of their sense of patriotism, we see the government and the people have reacted to what they’ve revealed and [hopefully] reforms will happen,” he said.

Baligod said he is not intimidated by the threat to his life.

“My personality is that I don’t let these type of people scare me. If I let them scare me, I’ve already lost and I know that what I’m doing in my individual capacity is right. I’m not just trying to ruin people. I think what I’m doing as a lawyer is right,” he said.

He also said he was “content that the justice system is moving,” and said he is grateful for the warrants of arrest issued against the Napoleses. – Rappler.com