“She is considered an accused for now [and the President wants Justice Sec. Leila De Lima to] continue to evaluate the testimony and statements of Ms. Janet Napoles,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said during a press conference on Tuesday.
Lacierda said that De Lima informed President Benigno Aquino III earlier in the day that Napoles has agreed to bare all the details of the alleged scam, including names of all those involved.
But Lacierda said the President instructed De Lima to “listen to the testimony and evaluate.”
“We will follow the same position taken by Secretary Leila de Lima… we will be following closely the evaluation and validation of Secretary Leila de Lima and her team,” he said.
“There is no presumed conclusion as to can she be a state witness. That has to go through the process of evaluation. And remember, the final arbiter to that would be the Sandiganbayan,” he added.
Earlier, however, Aquino had already hinted he does not believe Napoles was “not most guilty.”
“Tila ang common link doon sa lahat na supposed to be involved, at least as far as one segment of the scam is involved, ay si Ms. Napoles. So siya ba ang pasimuno?” Aquino said.
“Hindi ganoon kaklaro… Pero nasa sentro siya ng mga involvement ng ‘di umano’y maraming mga tao. So paano mo masasabing not the most guilty?” he added. — Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ, GMA News
