DEPORK! (Overseas Filipinos Demand the Abolition of Pork) alliance today expressed concern over the release of several versions of “Napol-lists” from different sources, saying that these are merely meant to sow confusion among the public and to divert attention from the ”real big players” in the pork barrel scam.
DEPORK! convenor Lito Soriano questioned the timing of the version released by Senator Panfilo Lacson just as the Department of Justice is expected to submit Janet Lim Napoles’ affidavit to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. “At the same time, Benhur Luy claims he has his own version, and even the President is now saying that he has had in his possession two versions of the list all along. The timing is suspect. We have all reasons to question the motives behind the release of all these lists,” Soriano said.
For her part, Migrante Sectoral Party chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado said that the DOJ’s continuous refusal to release the Napol-list, as ordered by Malacanang, is obviously intended to protect Pres. Aquino and his allies involved in the pork barrel scam.
“Each day, each hour that the Napol-list is not disclosed to the public is enough time to sanitize the list. We question the political motive of the Aquino administration, its selective prosecution of opposition solons while mum on the involvement of Sec. Abad, Sec. Alcala and other administration allies,” Bragas-Regalado said.
“It is in every and all OFWs’ interest that the Napol-list be released without any further delay to the public so that the real masterminds and major beneficiaries of the scam be prosecuted and punished, regardless of their political affiliations,” Soriano said.
DEPORK! will join the #abolishpork movement’s Black Friday Protest on May 16.
DEPORK! convenors are former Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Admin. Atty. Carlos Cao, Former Labor Sec. Marianito Roque, Comm. (Ret.) Dante Jimenez, Secretary-General of the Philippine Association of Maritime Institutions (PAMI) and founding president of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), Migrante International Chairperson Garry Martinez, Lito Soriano of LBS Recruitment Solutions Corp., Atty. Edwin dela Cruz of the International Seafarers Action Center (ISAC), Migrante Partylist chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado, Rev. Mirasol Villalon from the National-in-mission for Victims of Human Trafficking, OFWs and their Families-United Methodist Church and Bishop Bart Espartero of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente. ###
