PROFILES | 6 whistleblowers and the roles they played in the pork barrel scam

MANILA, Philippines -- At Thursday’s hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee into the P10-billion pork barrel scam, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima brought with her six of the 16 whistleblowers in the scandal.

 

These are the whistleblowers, some of whom are already familiar names because of previous exposure in media, and the roles they told the committee they played in the web of subterfuge that led to the massive embezzlement of the Priority Development Assistance Fund allegedly pulled off by their boss, Janet Lim-Napoles, and the lawmakers and other government officials she was in cahoots with:

 

 

Benhur Luy: president of the Social Development for Farmers Foundation, “which was designated (as a recipient of PDAF) by senators and congressmen." Worked for Napoles, a relative, for 10 years, from September 2002 until she allegedly locked him up in a condominium unit on December 19, 2012 to prevent him from spilling the beans on the scam.

 

 

Gertrudes Luy: Benhur’s mother, who said she was hired by Napoles in 1990 as the nanny of the businesswoman’s children and named president, supposedly without her knowledge, of Bukiring Tanglaw, which she said was involved in another scam involving the government’s share of revenues from the Malampaya Natural Gas Project.

 

Worked for Napoles until December 2012. It was Gertrudes who received deliveries of millions of pesos in cash made by JLN Corp. employees to Napoles' apartment at the posh Pacific Plaza Towers in Bonifacio Global City. When the bags and boxes of money would not fit in Napoles' bedroom, Gertrudes said they would put this in the bathtub.

 

 

Merlina Sunas: project coordinator of JLN Corp. Worked for Napoles from 1997 to December 2012. Was named president of the People’s Organization for Progress and Development Foundation in 2003. She also admitted suggesting in 2007 that a first cousin, Nemencio Pablo Jr., be named president -- without his knowledge -- of the Agriculture and Economic Program for Farmers Inc. Pablo, an overseas Filipino worker in Australia, is among the 38 respondents in the plunder and malversation complaints filed by the National Bureau of Investigation before the Office of the Ombudsman.

 

 

Marina Sula: former finance officer of JLN Corp. and president of Masaganang Ani para sa Magsasaka Foundation until August 2013. Began working for Napoles in 1997. Her task was to form NGOs and corporations and take care of their licensing and registration. She also kept the records to Napoles' many properties, which she listed down in a "red book."

 

 

Mary Arlene Baltazar: Former JLN bookkeeper, tasked with the filing and payments to BIR, Philhealth and SSS. Was also named president of theKaupdanan Para sa Mangunguma Foundation. She helped shred documents to the NGOs of which Luy and Sunas were listed as presidents.

 

 

Simonette Briones: president of the Countrywide Agriculture and Economic Development Foundation from 2009-2013 but not employed by JLN.