Benhur Luy confirms Mat Ranillo-Janet Napoles link
  • 5 years ago
MANILA – Whistle-blower Benhur Luy confirmed Thursday that actor Mat Ranillo III was one of the agents tapped by alleged pork scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles in Congress. In his testimony, Luy said Ranillo was a conduit of kickbacks for Senator Jinggoy Estrada through Estrada’s appointments secretary Pauline Labayen. He said that in 2006, Napoles wanted to stop paying commissions to Ranillo since she wanted to deal directly with Estrada. At that time, Ranillo had just received a Ford E-150 from Napoles and was paying for it through his commissions. “Ang nangyari po hindi naman mababayaran yung sasakyan agad agad so ang usapan, bawas na lang sa commission sa kickbacks. So bawas bawas dahil ako ang nag re-record ng advances,” Luy said. “Ang nangyari po, bayad na si Mat Ranillo at nagkaroon sila ng problema dahil gusto ni Madam ay alisin na si Mat Ranillo at dederecho na sila kay Pauline,” he added. He said Napoles filed, through him, a case for writ of replevin in Marikina against Ranillo for alleged non-payment of the vehicle. In turn, Ranillo presented vouchers showing that he was being paid by JLN Corporation and that the vouchers showed deductions as payments for his car. Luy said Napoles was surprised that Ranillo had documentary evidence to show that he was receiving kickbacks. “Sinabi ni Madam: ‘Sh*t, may kopya si Mat Ranillo ng mga vouchers tapos pirmado.’ Pirmado din niya,” he recounted Napoles as saying. Napoles then asked Luy to prepare a new set of vouchers that would make it appear that Ranillo’s vouchers were fake. Luy also said there was a settlement because the Ranillo case was making too much noise since Estrada’s name was involved. He said Napoles told him that the van was already paid. However, he said Napoles would later send a sheriff to reclaim the van from Ranillo.