'Mr. and Mrs. Napoles' were election contributors - Brillantes

MANILA - Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes said a certain “Mr. Napoles” and a “Mrs. Napoles” gave contributions to the campaign of a congressional candidate in 2007.

“Benhur Luy”, believed to be the whistleblower, also contributed to the campaign of party-list Ang Samahan ng mga Mangangalakal Para sa Ikakaunlad ng Lokal na Ekonomiya Inc (A-SMILE), he said.

Brillantes did not name the congressman, saying the person lost in the elections and so did the party-list group.

Some groups have called on lawmakers to release the list of contributors of politicians to check whether they have had associations or relations with businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, who is being tagged as the perpetrator of the pork scam.

Napoles supposedly funneled Priority development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations to bogus non-government organizations. Whistleblowers alleged the lawmakers also took a slice of the pie.

The whistleblowers claimed they have something more up their sleeves, with pieces of evidence directly pointing to the lawmakers themselves.

Levito Baligod, the lawyer of Luy, said earlier stories only showed how the PDAF allocations were siphoned towards bogus NGOs. What the whistleblowers have will complete the story left hanging by the Commission on Audit (COA).

So where did the funds go after being directed to the coffers of NGOs? Baligod said, “There are bank to bank transactions. Example, there are withdrawals from the banks of foundations and these were credited to the bank accounts of legislators.” – with a report from Zyann Ambrosio, ABS-CBN News