No transfer of Napoles to safe house — Sandigan

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has closed its doors on the bid of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles to be transferred from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) detention facility at Camp Bagong Diwa to a Department of Justice (DOJ) safe house.

In a 10-page resolution promulgated on May 3 but released to the media only yesterday, the anti-graft court’s Third Division found no valid ground to order Napoles’ transfer of custody.

“After a careful examination of the parties’ arguments, the Court finds the subject motion bereft of merit,” read the ruling penned by Third Division chair and Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang.

The ruling has the concurrence of Associate Justices Bernelito Fernandez and Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta.

Napoles is facing a plunder charge before the Third Division as a co-accused of former senator Juan Ponce Enrile in connection with the alleged misuse of millions of pesos of the latter’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel.

The court’s First and Fifth Divisions, which are hearing other plunder charges, had earlier denied similar motions from Napoles. She is a co-accused of former senator Ramon Revilla Jr. at the First Division and of former senator Jinggoy Estrada at the Fifth.

Just like the position of the First and Fifth Divisions, the Third Division said allowing Napoles’ transfer to a DOJ facility would violate the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 6981 or the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Program Act.

The court pointed out that under Article 9, Section 1 of implementing rules and regulations of RA 6981, the Witness Protection Program (WPP) of the DOJ “shall not take into its protective custody a witness who is under detention for any lawful cause.”

“In this case, accused Napoles is under detention for a lawful cause. She is charged with plunder which is a non-bailable offense,” the Third Division’s ruling read.

The Third Division stressed that it earlier denied Napoles’ petition for bail as it found sufficient evidence to warrant her continued detention pending the trial of the case. The court noted that on Feb. 6, 2018, the Supreme Court had denied with finality Napoles’ motion for reconsideration on the denial of her bail petition.

Last March 16, the same day that former justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II confirmed that she was provisionally admitted to the WPP to shed light on the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam, Napoles through lawyer Stephen David, asked all three Sandiganbayan divisions to have her placed inside a safe house instead of a jail.

But the Third Division maintained that Napoles’ coverage under the WPP is just provisional and that she remains accused in the pork-related cases. 

As to her claim of experiencing threat and harassment in her current place of detention, the Third Division said this is not supported by the BJMP.

Napoles had earlier claimed that a group of armed men “bolt-cut” her jail cell on Oct. 12, 2017 and ransacked her personal things.

The Third Division said that while an incident report from the BJMP detailed the supposed ransacking incident, the jail warden and signatory to the report made no mention of any threat on the life of Napoles and even assured the court that they will continue to secure the accused.