Biazon: I don't know Janet Napoles

MANILA - A day after announcing his irrevocable resignation from the Customs bureau, Ruffy Biazon is now setting his sights on defending himself from charges he misused his pork barrel fund while he was congressman of Muntinlupa. Confident that he will be cleared, Biazon maintained he does not know Janet Lim Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the P10 billion pork barrel scam. "I don't have any relationship with Janet Napoles. I just know her as the figure that she is now," he said in an interview on ANC's Headstart. Asked if he ever gave pork barrel funds to a Napoles NGO, he said: "At that time, you don't know which was a Napoles NGO or not. That was six years ago." He said his lawyers wanted to go back to his records but he does not have them anymore. Biazon served for three terms as Muntinlupa congressman from 2001 to 2010. Biazon, who faces a complaint for malversation, bribery and graft, said he will also look into reports his name was only added to the Justice Department's complaint at the last minute. He said he also brought up the issue during his meeting with President Aquino on Monday. The former Customs chief said he resigned to protect the Aquino administration from criticisms it is sparing its allies in the pork barrel controversy. "We believe in the Liberal Party. We believe in the President. In fact, that is one of the reasons why I resigned. I want to protect the President from unwarranted criticism. One of the roles of presidential appointees is not just to do their function or the duties of their position but to protect the President," he said. Asked if he is the administration's sacrificial lamb, he said: "If that is the role I am playing, so be it." Biazon is set to leave the Customs bureau this Friday. He said that while he gave his all to reform the bureau, he admitted some of his proposals were rejected. He also said there were times he did not see eye-to-eye with his boss, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima. However, he said this is just part of the job. "I got support from him. There is no problem with that but these are just normal occurrences in course of work. May tinatanggap na recommendation, may nire-reject," he said. He also admitted that he did not know some of the Customs collectors who were detailed to the bureau by the Department of Finance. "There are recent entries into the bureau that, I did not know them. Some are collectors, some are lower-level. It's part of a big plan. It's just that I did not have a chance to interview them before they came to the bureau," he said. Biazon said he holds no personal grudge against anyone nor does he regret his stint with government. He said he may consider another congressional run in 2016.