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MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Jejomar Binay has found allies in the House of Representatives.
The independent bloc in the House agreed with Binay’s comments that pork-barrel-scam-suspect-turned-witness Ruby Tuason‘s testimony was a “dud.”
Leyte Representative Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, on Monday, February 10, said Tuason must come out with “harder physical and indisputable evidence” before Justice Secretary Leila de Lima can call her testimony a “slam dunk.”
“We urge Leila de Lima, the Secretary of Justice, to stop claiming these revelations as slam dunk evidence until [they are] proven in court,” Romualdez said in a press conference.
“Let’s avoid trial by publicity. Let it be on record that we are not trying to defend anybody on the pork barrel scam. We just want to know the truth based on hard physical evidence.”
Months after being implicated in the pork barrel scam, Tuason arrived early morning Friday, February 7, in Manila to turn herself in as a state witness.
In her 15-page affidavit, Tuason revealed she personally delivered the kickbacks of senators Jinggoy Estrada and Juan Ponce-Enrile from their dealings with alleged pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim Napoles. She corroborated earlier statements by principal whistleblower Benhur Luy and other witnesses. (READ: Pork conduit: Excerpts from Ruby Tuason’s affidavit)
Romualdez said the House independent bloc believes it would take more than Tuason’s testimonies to implicate the perpetrators of the pork barrel scam, warning that her statements could be another diversionary tactic.
“As we all know, Ms Tuason has not produced any physical evidence up to now to back up her claims, and we really want to see this. This will not be fair to all concerned, not to mention the fact that Ms Tuason can very well be a cover for other pressing scam issues like the continued being ‘untouchable’ and ‘perpetual silence’ being enjoyed by suspected scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles,” Romualdez said.
“You can see that, the one who is supposed to be knowledgeable is quiet because of the submission of her statement to the court and all that, and yet we are having a field day again on other possible state witnesses,” he added.
Tuason is set to testify in the upcoming Senate hearing on the pork barrel scam on Thursday, February 13. – Rappler.com
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