MANILA, Philippines – To Malacañang, the fact that a government executive and a member of the ruling party served as the lawyer of alleged pork barrel syndicate Janet Lim Napoles is not a big deal.

On Wednesday, October 30, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) Chairman Rene Villa was Napoles’ counsel for 4 years. Villa is a member of the ruling Liberal Party (LP).

The same day, Communications Secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma said “it’s not an issue” for Malacañang, arguing Villa “is not implicated in any irregularity.”

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte added, “Villa has explained his professional connection to Napoles and absent any allegation of wrongdoing on his part, we will leave it at that.”

Villa was quoted by the Inquirer as saying he was only in charge of Napoles’ international business transactions, and other lawyers handled her criminal and labor cases. He said he had worked with Napoles from 2006, but dropped her as a client when he rejoined government. Villa insisted he knew nothing of Napoles’ government transactions.

Napoles is facing charges of plunder at the Office of the Ombudsman. She is accused of conniving with lawmakers to channel their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to her dubious non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in exchanged for hefty kickbacks.

Napoles is currently detained for a separate case of serious illegal detention.

No effect on LP

Villa is a key ally of Senate President Franklin Drilon, who defended him by saying Villa “was a practicing lawyer when he was out of government.” Drilon explained that Villa made an independent decision “as to who he will pick as a client.”

“We have nothing to do with that. Not the party, not myself. He is a lawyer, and he was practicing his profession,” he told reporters Wednesday.

Drilon also decried efforts “to link me again to Janet Napoles,” after it was emphasized that Drilon mentored Villa in Iloilo. The senator’s approval ratings dropped significantly after his own links to Napoles were revealed. Photos of Drilon with Napoles have surfaced and gone viral since the scam broke out, but Drilon insisted they are only acquaintances.

He said the sudden focus on Villa was part of a massive “demolition job.”

“As to where the [PR fund] is from, I will not speculate. I have information. I do not know the amount but I understand that it is well-funded. This is along with the demolition [against] the whole administration. This is a demolition job from political opponents,” he said.

But Drilon said he does not think the issue will affect the LP, since Villa worked with Napoles before he joined the Aquino government.

Drilon also denied it was Villa who introduced him to Napoles.

Sen Teofisto Guingona III, LP’s Vice President for Mindanao and chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee, also said he only found out about the links of Villa and Napoles in the news but gave assurances “we will leave no stone unturned.” Napoles is set to appear before Guingona’s committee – which is conducting its own probe on the pork barrel scam – on November 7.

Guingona also backed Drilon’s statement that the LP would not be affected, and said he saw no need for the party to discuss the issue. – with reports from Ayee Macaraig/Rappler.com