Pork whistleblower is ex-Navy employee

MANILA - Merlina Pablo Suñas, one of the whistle-blowers in the pork barrel scam, revealed Thursday that businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles escaped accountability in the delivery of substandard kevlar helmets to the Philippine Marines. In her testimony, Suñas said she was still a civilian employee of the Philippine Navy in 1997 when Napoles started transactions with the agency. She said Napoles bagged a P3.8 million contract to deliver kevlar helmets to the Marines. She said Napoles escaped accountability in the malversation case over the kevlar helmet contract because she used her mother, brother, sister-in-law to sign the contracts for the delivery. Suñas said Napoles was still using Jo-Cris Trading to transact business with the military. "She was the supplier of vehicle parts, marine parts for the Philippine Navy. She also brought supplies for a period of 3-4 years. Nagkataon na ako ay assigned sa procurement office ng Naval construction brigade," Suñas said in her testimony. She said she joined Jo-Cris Trading after she filed for optional retirement after 22 years in the Navy "Sumama ako sa kanya after retirement and I became responsible for the transactions with the different government agencies." "We went to GHQ. Ako na po yung sumasama at nagassist na rin sa documents na dapat i-submit para mapondohan at makakuha ng pondo sa AFP," she added. ANC, September 26, 2013