Defense lawyer sends Benhur Luy to tears

Benhur Luy, the primary whistleblower in the alleged pork barrel scam, became emotional on Monday after a defense lawyer questioned his credibility as a state witness.

At the continuation of the hearing of Senator Jinggoy Estrada's petition for bail before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division, the usually smiling Luy broke down in tears while on the witness stand after Estrada's lawyer, Jose Flaminiano, manifested that Luy should also be charged for his alleged involvement in the multi-billion pork barrel fund scam.

"The witness admitted massive falsification of documents and signatures but no case was filed against him!" Flaminiano said during Luy's direct examination by prosecutor Jacinto Dela Cruz.

"He is not showing any remorse," Flaminiano added, directly facing Luy who was just about two feet away from him.

During his direct examination, Luy recounted before the open court how he falsified documents and forged signatures of several individuals, including local government officials, to funnel Estrada's Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to the fake non-government organizations associated with Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged brains of the scam.

Forged signatures

Luy said all the falsifications were done upon the instructions of Napoles, who was his cousin and former boss at JLN Corporation.

Luy, upon the order of Fifth Division member Associate Justice Ma. Theresa Lourdes Gomez-Estoesta, even demonstrated before the court how he can forge the signatures of Estrada's former staff Pauleen Labayen, some notary public lawyers, and some municipal mayors.

The Fifth Division justices then compared Luy's forged signatures to the original signatures of the concerned individuals. The justices were seen nodding but did not say anything.

Labayen is Estrada's co-accused both in the plunder and graft charges for allegedly diverting the senator's PDAF worth P278 million to the NGOs of Napoles in exchange for commissions or kickbacks allegedly amounting to P183 million.

Flaminiano, after the hearing, said he did not mean to intimidate Luy and just wanted to point out how flawed he is as a state witness.

"I'm not arguing or intimidating the witness. It's just a manifestation," Flaminiano said. "Halos araw -araw nagfa-falsify siya ng documents. I am just merely stating a fact."
Tainted credibility

Estrada, meanwhile, said Luy's admission of his deep involvement in the scam has tainted his credibility as a witness.

"He committed several criminal acts by falsifying, by forging signatures of other people, of government officials. Of course it will affect his credibility. Wala na siyang kredebilidad sa mga pinaggagawa niya," Estrada said after the hearing.

Estrada's lawyer Alexis Abastilles-Suarez likewise believed that Luy's admission of forging the documents and signatures can be advantageous to her client.

"It (Luy's testimony) may help us because it only goes to show that Senator Jinggoy does not have any hand [n the scam] other than the project identification. As to the implementation of the projects, it's the NGOs and the implementing agencies. Sila-sila na mismo yung gumawa ng paraan para ma-implement yung projects," Abastilles said.

Meanwhile, prosecution member, Justice Undersecretary Jose Justiniano, on the contrary, said Luy's admission of his involvement in the scam only strengthened his credibility as a witness.

"This only made him more credible. The deeper your involvement in the conspiracy, the more credible your testimony is. Kung wala siyang alam, bakit pa namin siya ipre-presinta?" he said. —KBK/NB, GMA News