Cunanan: I am not an accomplice

MANILA - On-leave Technology Resource Center (TRC) director general Dennis Cunanan on Thursday said he never received bribes from businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles in the alleged P10 billion pork barrel scam. Speaking before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, Cunanan rejected allegations that he also benefited from the scam. "Sa konsyensya ko po at konsyensya ng pamilya ko, mahirap pong umamin ng di totoo," he said. He also said it is possible that his name was used in the scam so that people inside Napoles' circle would get money. "Ito yung tinutukoy ng abogado ko na sa loob ng organisasyon ay may bukulan na nangyayari," he said. Cunanan is among the 38 people charged with plunder, bribery and malversation before the Office of the Ombudsman for their alleged links to the scam. He earlier said he was pressured by Senators Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada to release their priority development assistance funds to Napoles NGOs. Pork scam whistle-blower Benhur Luy earlier said Cunanan is one of several officials who received 10% in kickbacks from the PDAF coursed to Napoles NGOs. Luy said Cunanan visited the JLN Group of Companies office to receive money from Napoles. This was when Cunanan was still TRC deputy director general. On the instruction of Mrs. Napoles, Luy prepared P960,000 for Cunanan. Luy said he handed over the money to his superior, Evelyn de Leon. For his part, Cunanan said any monies handed to him could not be equivalent to the amounts given to the agency heads. He also said that if he received bribes, he would not verify or validate any documents in the Napoles transactions. "Kung meron akong natanggap, ako pa mismo ang magmamadali na magproseso ng dokumento," he said. He also said that if he is an accomplice in the scam, he would not have ordered a review of all accredited NGOs that receive PDAF. He said the review led to the blacklisting of Napoles NGOs including the one headed by Luy. He said the Commission on Audit called the blacklisting an affirmative action and started the special audit of PDAF from 2007-2009.