A WITNESS in the P10-billion “pork barrel scam” on Monday admitted to receiving kickbacks and bonuses of P3 million to P4 million from Janet Lim Napoles in 16 years of her work with JLN Corp.
During a cross-examination before the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division, whistleblower Marina Sula said she was able to get a bonus as much as P150,000 and as small as P2,000 from Napoles, and that her commissions and other benefits reached an accumulated sum of P3 million to P4 million since she started working with Napoles’ firm in 1997.
Sula said the money came from the proceeds of the ghost projects of Napoles-linked foundations, such as the Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation (MAMFI), funded by the lawmakers’ PDAF.
When she started work at JLN Corp., she was then receiving a P6,000 monthly wage, she said.
She was already receiving P50,000 a month before her resignation in 2013, she added.
She maintained she had the personal knowledge of the transactions of some lawmakers with Napoles in exchange for commissions from their PDAF allocations.
When asked about the alleged shredding of PDAF-related documents and why she did not include in her sworn affidavit about lawmakers accepting kickbacks, Sula said she was never then interviewed about such information.
Meanwhile, Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada said the attempt to rob his home at Corinthian Hills in Quezon City was an “inside job.”
After his bail hearing at the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division for the plunder he is facing, Estrada said one of the suspects, one Eric Dalagan, looked familiar to him.
“Is it an inside job. Did some guide the suspects? Yes,” he said.
Dalagan was arrested, while his companions managed to flee.