‘Failure to uphold justice’: Solons slam move turning Napoles into state witness

MANILA, Philippines — Oppositions solons criticized the Department of Justice for supposedly failing to uphold justice in the country after it granted Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind behind the pork barrel scam, provisional government protection.

Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III called the placement of Napoles under the DOJ’s Witness Protection Program “an unbelievable crazy development.”

“Do some people in the DOJ really believe that Janet Lim-Napoles is qualified to be a state witness in the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam which she herself invented, organized and perpetuated?” Pimentel said.

Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano said the move showed how “skewed” the justice system in the country has become.

“The most guilty now becomes the state witness,” Alejano said.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros also warned that Napoles might be used as a “political weapon” to harass members of the opposition.

“Napoles could also be used as a means to enforce loyalty within the Duterte camp. All those who will not toe the line and have strong opinions against the government's policies and the President himself could easily be included in Napoles' pork barrel list,” she said.

Kabataan party-list, for its part, said that President Rodrigo Duterte “has paved the way toward impunity to be even smoother and shorter for the most guilty” by allowing Napoles as a state witness.

Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Friday confirmed that while Napoles has been admitted to the DOJ’s Witness Protection Program, she is not yet physically under the WPP.

Napoles’ camp has also issued an urgent motion to transfer her to the DOJ from her detention cell at the Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.

READ: Janet Lim Napoles now enjoying partial witness protection

Aguirre should resign

The move to provisionally place the pork barrel scam prime suspect under the WPP comes on the heels of the dismissal of drug charges against Duterte’s “kumpare” Peter Go Lim and confessed drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa.

“Sa loob ng isang linggo, napalaya ng Department of Justice ang mga drug lord at naipasok ang reyna ng pork barrel scam sa witness protection program. Nasaan ang hustisya para sa mga biktima ng War on Drugs at para sa taumbayang nanakawan ng pinaghirapang yaman?” opposition senator Bam Aquino said.

Aquino reminded the DOJ to uphold the rule of law and demanded for the resignation of Aguirre.

“The president should put his house in order. Secretary Aguirre should resign to give way to a credible and capable justice secretary,” he said.

Alejano also called on Aguirre to step down from his post, as his presence is an insult to the Filipinos.

“I call on Secretary Aguirre to resign and spare the whole DOJ from further destruction and embarrassment. His failure to perform his duties with utmost competence and fairness has been a huge disappointment,” he said.

In a press briefing Thursday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said that Duterte still trusts Aguirre.