MANILA - Pork scam whistle-blower Benhur Luy on Friday broke down on the witness stand as he recounted the threats he received while allegedly being detained by his boss, alleged pork scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.
Luy returned to the Makati City Regional Trial Court branch 150 for the continuation of the bail hearing of Napoles who is detained for serious illegal detention.
In his testimony, Luy said Napoles ordered his detention after she discovered that he had been receiving text messages from a certain Maya Santos, an alleged project coordinator for some senators.
He said Napoles' brother, Jojo Lim, detained him at the office of JLN Group of Companies in Discovery Suites, Pasig on December 19, 2012.
Luy said Lim threatened to harm his family and even showed a photo of Luy's mother, Gertrudes Luy. At the time, Luy's mother was still working for Napoles.
Luy said he could not make phone calls because the phone in his room had no dial tone. He broke down as he recalled the threats Lim made to his family.
He said he was later transferred to 52 Lapu-Lapu Street in Magallanes Village. He said the house, which is owned by Napoles, was being used by a group of priests.
He said a certain Monsignor Josefino Ramirez, who had a close relationship with the Napoleses, received him.
Luy also accused a certain Alfredo Villamor of threatening him while he was under detention.
Luy has accused Napoles of setting up fake non-government organizations that received billions of pesos in lawmakers' priority development assistance funds.
A Commission on Audit report later confirmed that several Napoles-linked NGOs received billions of pesos in pork barrel funds from 2007 to 2009.
The justice department has filed plunder, graft, bribery and malversation charges against 38 people including three senators linked to the scam. With reports by Atom Araullo, ABS-CBN; and radio dzMM