MANILA - The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee is set to subpoena businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles to appear before the Senate inquiry on the P10 billion pork scam.
Sen. Teofisto "TG" Guingona III, Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairman, said the panel on Monday forwarded to the Office of the Senate President for signing the subpoena to compel Napoles to attend its hearing set on September 26, 2013. Under the rules of the Senate, a subpoena must be signed and approved by the Senate President.
"The appearance of Ms. Napoles in the Blue Ribbon hearing is important to our investigation as the Filipinos are looking for answers that may shed light to some issues at hand," he said in a statement.
Napoles, the owner of JLN Group of Ccompanies, is accused of setting up fake non-government organizations that acted as conduits of millions of pesos in pork barrel funds.
Key whistle-blower Benhur Luy, a former personal aide of Napoles, said lawmakers linked to the scam got as much as 50 percent of the pork barrel allocations funneled to the Napoles NGOs.
On Tuesday, September 24, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will resume its hearing on the pork barrel controversy. Resource persons include Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, Benhur Luy, Gertrudes Luy, Marina Sula, Merlina Suῆa, and other whistle-blowers.
The hearing will start at 9 a.m.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
