Napoles admitted to witness program

MANILA, Philippines — Accused pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles has moved a step closer to turning state witness, with Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II confirming yesterday that she is now under the provisional witness protection program (WPP).

“We confirm that Janet L. Napoles has been placed under provisional admission of WPP subject to affidavit she submitted which is now undergoing assessment,” Aguirre said in a statement.

While her admission to the program is provisional, Aguirre explained that upon Napoles’ request, “we can provide additional security and as warranted, address medical needs.”

Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Ma. Nerissa Molina-Carpio, director of the WPP under the Department of Justice (DOJ), issued a certification that Napoles “has been provisionally covered by the Witness Protection Security and Benefit Program (WPSBP) effective Feb. 27, 2018.”

The admission of Napoles to the WPP would have no effect on her pending cases before the Sandiganbayan, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said yesterday in a statement when asked for comment.

“It has no effect on the cases under trial in court,” said Morales, the former Supreme Court associate justice who filed 12 cases of plunder, graft and malversation of public funds cases against Napoles.

Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang refused to comment on the motion seeking to transfer custody of the accused from Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig to the WPP.

“Her counsel filed today a motion to transfer her in light of this very recent development, her coverage under the WPP,” she told The STAR. 

“The motion is scheduled for hearing on Monday. The matter is thus sub judice. For this reason, I cannot make any comment thereon,” she explained.

Napoles is facing three plunder charges as a co-accused in the cases of former senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada.

Records showed that the Office of the Ombudsman also filed nine other pork barrel fund scam cases against Napoles at the Sandiganbayan as a co-accused in the criminal cases of nine former lawmakers.

Napoles appeal

Claiming that she is already under threat, intimidation and harassment, Napoles had asked the Sandignabayan to transfer her custody from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to the WPP.

In a three-page urgent motion filed yesterday, she submitted a certification issued by the DOJ Witness Protection Security and Benefit Program signed by Molina-Carpio as the program director stating that she was indeed admitted to the WPP on Feb. 27, 2018 pursuant to Republic Act 6891 of the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act.

“To enable the DOJ to perform its duty to secure herein accused-movant, it is imperative that the custody over her person be transferred from the BJMP, Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan where she is presently being held, to the DOJ-WPP,” Napoles, through her lawyer Stephen David, said.

Her motion noted that based on the provisions of the law and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), a covered witness shall be secured until she has testified.

“In addition, she is also entitled to have a secure housing facility until the threat, intimidation or harassment disappears or is reduced,” Napoles stressed.

She claimed that “there are already manifestations of threat, intimidation and harassment, making her security a concern in view of the fact that her present place of confinement is publicly known.”

She further claimed that there were recorded incidents of harassment, intimidation and threats on her life and security which could be avoided if the DOJ-WPP would be allowed to perform its mandate to protect her.

Napoles, tagged as the brains behind the misuse of billions of pesos in pork barrel funds or the Priority Development Assistance Fund of lawmakers based on a Commission on Audit (COA) investigation covering 2007 to 2010, is facing a string of plunder and graft charges before the Sandiganbayan.

She is a principal accused in the criminal cases lodged by the Office of the Ombudsman against former senators Enrile, Revilla and Estrada.

All three cases are now on trial with witnesses being presented by government lawyers to prove their allegations that the lawmakers received kickback or commissions in exchange for funding host projects implemented by bogus non-government organizations (NGOs) controlled by Napoles.

Enrile and Estrada have been released on bail while Revilla remains detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) custodial center in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Revilla is seeking the dismissal of his plunder and graft cases through a demurer to evidence, a move that seeks to have the charges junked halfway through the trial on grounds that the prosecution failed to prove its case.

Napoles is also facing a handful of other plunder, graft and malversation of public funds cases also for alleged involvement in the misuse of pork barrel funds by various former congressmen.  –  Michael Punongbayan