The controversy generated by the so-called “Napolist” drawn up by pork scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles does not and will never affect the work of the members of the House of Representatives, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said.

Belmonte, who is also the honorary chairman of the National Unity Party (NUP), reminded the public that 90 percent of the congressmen linked to the list were lawmakers during the previous Congresses and 90 percent of the alleged irregular transactions took place during those times.

“We want to get on with our work. When there is only a small fraction of the House that is allegedly involved – and mind you, these are just allegations without any piece of evidence at this stage – that should not derail our task,” the Speaker said.

“There is a need to produce evidence, there is a need to back all these things up. We cannot just rely on the word of a [Benhur] Luy or a Napoles. Those lists are subject to the production of evidence to back them up,” he added.

Belmonte was referring to Benhur Luy, one of the whistleblowers  who has implicated Napoles, along with several senators and congressmen, in the pork barrel scam.

He pointed out “it is still in the trial-by-publicity stage”  for most of those being linked to the pork barrel scam.

“Unfortunately, nobody pays attention to trial by publicity except politicians. It is our bad luck that we are politicians, so we are affected by this,” he said.

Belmonte noted that only “roughly 20 House members” in the current Congress are named in the “Napolist” and their alleged dealings all happened in the past, he likewise noted.

“Many of our members are newcomers and they are still very gung ho in doing their work,” he stressed.