Pork barrel scam whistleblower Mary Arlene Baltazar told the court Monday that she was asked to forge Benhur Luy’s signature to move money from his account to the account of alleged scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.
She made the testimony before the Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 150.
Baltazar, a former employee of Napoles’ JLN Corporation, said a certain Mia Alvares asked her to copy Luy’s signature for a fund transfer transaction with Metrobank one day after the 2012 December 19 incident where Napoles was angered by Luy for his supposed secret deals with lawmakers.
She said she refused to forge the signature, after which Alvarez entered the room of a certain Evelyn de Leon and went back to Baltazar with the paperwork signed.
“She went back to the work place and she showed me that the fund transfer form was already signed by Evelyn de Leon and she faxed it (to Metrobank),” she said in the local language.
When asked if the funds were indeed transfered, Baltazar said the bank worked on the request upon faxing.
Baltazar also said that there were times when Napoles read messages from “Flor” on Luy’s cellphone.
That was where Napoles discovered that Flor and Luy were having transactions similar to hers, Baltazar said.
Baltazar was referring to operations by Napoles in dealing with projects related to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel.
She said Napoles also saw the name of “Maya Santos” in Luy’s conversations, and allegedly called Luy a traitor.
Santos was a project coordinator for two senators implicated in the scam, and frequented the offices of JLN Corporation.
After Napoles left the room, Baltazar said Napoles’ brother Reynald Lim and a bodyguard entered and seized Luy, who she said was brought to room 2501 where she last saw him.
Luy’s mother called her several times the next day, she said.
Baltazar’s testimony was made during the petition for Napoles’ bail in her case for illegally detaining Luy in her condominium complex in Bonifacio Global City.
Luy, Baltazar, and two others are whistleblowers in the scam involving the alleged misuse of PDAF allocations to Napoles’ bogus non-government organizations where legislators allegedly received huge kickbacks.
(with reports from The Philippine Inquirer)