Senate Majority Leader Alan
Peter “Companero” S. Cayetano on Monday 18 February 2014 questioned why Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile
has yet to file charges against his former Chief-of-Staff Jessica Lucila “Gigi”
Reyes and another staff, one Jose Evangelista after they were implicated by
whistleblowers and state witnesses in the P10-billion pork barrel scam.
Cayetano said that if Enrile is denying any participation in the alleged abuse and misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), then the natural course of action to pursue is to file charges against his staff implicated in the controversy.
“Bakit hindi pa kinakasuhan ni Sen.
Enrile ‘yung mga empleyado niya? If I found out na may kalokohan sa opisina ko,
I have two choices lang: I fire them and file a case or i-coddle ko sila at
itago,” he said.
Cayetano disclosed that there are
documents to show that Sen. Enrile authorized Gigi Reyes and Evangelista,
listed as a deputy chief-of-staff, to sign his PDAF papers on his behalf. The
two were implicated by Ruby Tuason during the last hearing of the Blue Ribbon
panel on the pork barrel scam.
The said documents were allegedly
signed by Enrile and addressed to the Commission on Audit. They authorize Reyes
and Evangelista to sign pertinent documents to ensure proper implementation of
livelihood projects funded allegedly by Enrile’s PDAF.
Cayetano said he came out with the
documents amid discussions on the failure of Ruby Tuason to directly link
Enrile to the pork barrel scam.
“I brought this out to prove na hindi
naman palaging kailangan testimony [to link anyone to the controversy],” he
said.
The Senate leader also chided Enrile’s
statement that the minority leader will be facing the allegations of his
participation in the pork barrel scam once they are filed in court.
“But remember, he’s a public servant.
He owes it to the public, all of us owe it to the public to explain. Can you
imagine what will happen if sa korte lang magpaliwanag lahat ng public officials,
ayaw nilang magpaliwanag sa media and then ma-acquit ka dun and then ang tingin
sa iyo ng tao ay guilty ka,” Cayetano said.-Press release from the office of Sen Alan Cayetano.
