Witnesses tell court what Drilon earlier confirmed

Senate President Franklin Drilon. Photo courtesy of Drilon’s official Facebook page.

MANILA – Appearing at the anti-graft court on Thursday, two witnesses said Senate President Franklin Drilon had partied several times with alleged pork scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

The details were earlier confirmed by Drilon.

The witnesses also added that in 2009, the couple attended the death anniversary of Napoles’ mother at the Heritage Park.

During the bail hearing of Sen. Bong Revilla at the Sandiganbayan, Marina Sula, confirmed that she saw photographs of Drilon and his wife at gatherings of the Napoles family.

Sula, a clerk, was also a former president of one of Napoles’ bogus nongovernment organizations (NGOs).

While insisting that he is not involved with any of Napoles’ schemes, Drilon has admitted that he attended several parties organized by Napoles.

“We were there principally because of a priest from China. My wife works in the church and we were invited. It was a social gathering,” Drilon said when contacted by phone on Thursday.

“That has come out before,” he said.

Senators including Revilla, Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada are now being charged for their alleged involvement in the channeling of allocations from their congressional Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) into ghost projects and kickbacks.