BI releases Janet Napoles posters nationwide

MANILA, Philippines - Posters of Janet Lim Napoles and her brother Reynald Jojo Lim have been distributed to all international airports to prevent the siblings from leaving the country.

Napoles is the alleged mastermind in the P10 billion pork barrel scam.

Benjie Villamor of the Bureau of Immigration's intelligence unit said that the siblings’ posters have been placed on immigration counters nationwide with a directive to all officers to prevent the two from leaving the country.

"Nag-issue kasi ng 'lookout' bulletin ang Department of Justice. So, they will be referred to the [BI] commissioner. We will have to wait for the commissioner's decision whether to let them leave the country," Villamor said.

He said that the posters include information on the siblings' including their passports' numbers and dates of birth.

The DOJ issued the "lookout" bulletin on the siblings as the government starts its investigation into the seven bogus non-government organizations allegedly controlled by Napoles as part of the pork barrel scam.

The Office of the Ombudsman has also started an investigation into the alleged misuse of P200 million public funds under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in 2007 and 2008, which is allegedly related to the pork barrel scam.

The scam was exposed by Benhur Luy, an employee of Napoles, who is now under the government’s witness protection.

Napoles has denied the allegation and accused Luy of attempting to extort P300 million from her.