In an interview, Enrile maintained that he never received government funds from Tuason through Reyes.
“Pork barrel funds? Walang ibinibigay sa akin na pork barrel funds. Kickback? I don’t know. I do not live with Mrs Reyes. I do not live in her house,” the senator told reporters.
He added that he is confident Reyes will not further implicate him in the alleged anomaly. He said as far as he knows, his former chief-of-staff never received kickbacks from pork barrel transactions.
“What will she [Reyes] say? I have faith in her honesty and integrity… There has never been any occasion when she violated that degree of rectitude expected of a public servant,” Enrile said.
Ruby Tuason
De Lima also said that Tuason even recalled an incident when Enrile dropped by at a coffee meeting between her and Reyes.
Reyes resigned last January as Enrile’s chief-of-staff at the height of accusations that she had power over Senate matters and authority to sign on behalf of her boss. She left the country last August at the height of the pork barrel scandal.
Last September, Reyes posted a statement on her Facebook page where she took offense at a statement supposedly made by Enrile’s spokesman, Enrique dela Cruz, that the lawmaker “did not give his blessings to any of the acts” she performed on his behalf.
Lunch meeting
Enrile admitted to meeting with Tuason once over lunch either in late 2006 or early 2007. He said Reyes was present during the meeting “to record the details of what is being discussed.”
The senator, however, said that pork barrel funds were never discussed during the lunch meeting with Tuason and Reyes.
“It was not to discuss PDAF [Priority Development Assistance Fund] or to receive a bribe, but I was discussing with her a prospective property transaction. That was about it. I was the one to arrange that lunch,” Enrile said.
He also described Tuason as a “casual acquiantance” whom he greeted during her occasional visits to the Senate.
“When I returned to the Senate in 2004, I used to see her in the elevator. Later on, I found out that she was acting as a broker, buyer of property,” he said.
Asked about De Lima’s statement that Tuason’s testimony already provides “slam dunk evidence” against him, Estrada and Reyes, Enrile laughed and said, “Ewan ko kung ano ang slam dunk evidence. Titingnan natin kung ano ang slam dunk.”
Senators Enrile, Estrada and Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. are currently facing plunder raps before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly benefiting from the pork barrel scam supposedly engineered by controversial businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles. — KBK, GMA News
