“Any list which includes my name as a ‘Napoles collaborator’ is a bogus list meant to muddle the present controversy,” the senator said in a statement on Sunday. The same statement was published on the senator’s Facebook page.
Napoles, before undergoing surgery at the Ospital ng Makati in late April, met with Justice Secretary De Lima and agreed to “tell all” on the P10-billion pork barrel scam.
De Lima has so far kept the list and the details of Napoles’ testimony from the public.
However, a report on the Daily Tribune over the weekend claimed former senator Panfilo Lacson has given in to pressure from Malacañang to clean up his copy of the supposed Napoles list to remove the names of the administration’s political allies.
Lacson’s “sanitized” list, which the report said has been leaked to another newspaper, supposedly contains the names of Pimentel and his father, former senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
Lacson has denied the allegation in the Tribune report, which cited an unnamed source.
“Official records will show that not a single centavo of my identified PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) projects has been endorsed for implementation to any Napoles-controlled NGO,” Pimentel said.
Napoles, in connivance with lawmakers, supposedly funneled pork barrel funds – a more common term for PDAF – to ghost projects supposedly implemented by bogus non-government organizations.
“In fact, I have never endorsed any of my PDAF projects for implementation by any NGO, whether Napoles-controlled or not,” the senator said.
Pimentel said Napoles tried to “befriend” him, but that the businesswoman did not get far. “I acted civilly towards her but said ‘no’ when PDAF matters were raised,” he said.
Pimentel added that a “syndicate” forged his signature on a letter – dated October 29, 2012 – addressed to the Department of Agriculture.
The senator said this was an “attempt to forcibly associate me with their illegal activities, apparently not being able to take ‘no’ for an answer.”
“I am set to criminally charge those I suspect to be responsible for this forgery,” he said.
Lacson, now presidential assistant for post-Yolanda reconstruction, last week warned that he will release the list of pork barrel scam conspirators if the Palace ‘sanitizes’ Napoles’ affidavit to protect administration allies. — Rouchelle R. Dinglasan/JDS, GMA News
