Gov’t: Janet innocent, may be state witness

MANILA, Philippines - She’s innocent and must be freed, but this is just an opinion submitted to the court, according to the chief state lawyer.

The government wants justice done in the serious illegal detention case against alleged pork barrel scam queen Janet Lim-Napoles, Solicitor General Jose Calida said yesterday.

“She should be acquitted,” Calida said. “It is very unfair if Janet Napoles will suffer incarceration for life for a crime she did not commit. That is a travesty of justice which my office cannot countenance.”

Napoles is serving a 40-year sentence for serious illegal detention filed by her second cousin and former staff Benhur Luy. It was Luy who spilled the beans on Napoles’ allegedly skimming millions of pesos from projects bankrolled by lawmakers’ pork barrel or the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

Calida said he and his team in the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) reviewed the evidence presented by the camps of Napoles and Luy. They concluded that “the evidence presented does not support the conviction beyond reasonable doubt” of the detained businesswoman.

He, however, clarified that the OSG was merely presenting its observation on the serious illegal detention case after it was asked to comment and file its pleadings on the case.

“This is our opinion. It’s an opinion that based on the facts that we reviewed that the quantum of evidence is lacking to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt,” he said.

Calida also pointed out that the OSG did not file a manifestation to acquit Napoles, but only to inform the Court of Appeals (CA) of its opinion on the matter.

“But it is not for us to say, it is for the Court of Appeals,” he said.

Commenting on Calida’s opinion, Luy’s lawyer Raymond Joseph Ian Mendoza said the issues raised by the OSG “were mere reiterations of Napoles’ position on the case which was already denied by the Makati RTC when it convicted her in April 2015.”

In a 10-page manifestation of the OSG on the serious illegal detention case against Napoles, the OSG noted that Luy “was not actually restrained or deprived of his liberty during the period of his alleged detention.”

Assistant Solicitor General Henry Angeles and Associate Solicitor Armand Morales signed the manifestation.

“When we look at the evidence, there are many glaring instances which will support the acquittal of the accused (Napoles),” Calida said.

Calida argued that Luy should have made an effort to escape from detention if he were truly illegally detained from Dec. 20, 2015 to March 22, 2016 at the Bahay ni San Jose, a retreat house in Makati City.

During the period, the OSG said Luy even regularly attended mass and acti-vities that ordinary people in a spiritual retreat would normally do. “He would read a bible, he would jot notes, he participated in the mass,” Calida said.

“Benhur Luy was in the retreat house for about three months. He had access to a cellphone, in fact, he was using this cellphone according to the priests who were there, he could have communicated to anybody out there that he was illegally detained,” he pointed out.

Calida also noted that Luy did not inform his family about his detention when he had a chance to see them on Dec. 24, 2012 at the Heritage Memorial Park; Jan. 9, 2013 and Feb. 23, 2013 at the Pacific Plaza Towers in Taguig City.

He also said that Luy was able to get out of the retreat house on Jan. 22, 2013 along with Napoles’ brother Reynaldo Lim and several priests for dinner in Makati and even bought foodstuff in a supermarket.

The OSG also cited an instance where Luy was “rescued” on March 22, 2013 at South Garden Unit, Pacific Plaza in Taguig City after he allegedly refused to go with National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents.

NBI agent Rodante Berou told the court that he did not see Luy being physically restrained and that Lim was unarmed.

The OSG also noted that CCTV recording during the alleged rescue of Luy showed “incontrovertible support” that he did not go with the NBI agents.

“Indeed, the conduct and behavior of Benhur Luy during the period of his alleged detention belie the fact that he was detained or deprived of his liberty, contrary to the findings of the trial court in its April 14, 2015 decision,” the OSG said.  –  With Elizabeth Marcelo, Evelyn Macairan