Napoles soon to be PH’s most photographed detainee
PROOF OF DETENTION The Philippine National Police on Sunday posted on its Facebook page the pictures of Janet Napoles, the alleged brains of the P10-billion pork barrel scam, while in detention inside a police training camp in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna. PHOTOS courtesy of PNP-PIO and PNP-SAF photographers
MANILA, Philippines — She may soon be the country’s most photographed detainee.
In addition to the 21 photographs of Janet Lim-Napoles released on Sunday, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said it would release more pictures of the alleged brains of the P10-billion pork barrel scam during her detention at a police training camp in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna.
Senior Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac, PNP public information office chief, said his office would furnish the media more photos of Napoles to assuage public fear that the Aquino administration has been giving her preferential treatment.
“The PNP is not giving VIP or special treatment (to Napoles). What we have done was just part of the security arrangements for her,” Sindac told the Philippine Daily Inquirer over the phone.
He said the release of Napoles’ pictures would not be on a regular basis but would depend “on a specific situation.”
“We will make public her photographs if there’s a need for it, depending on a certain situation. If there’s no significant (event), why should we release her photos everyday?” he said.
Napoles was transferred early Sunday from Makati City jail to a two-bedroom bungalow inside Fort Sto. Domingo, the training camp of the elite PNP Special Action Force (SAF).
On Sunday, Sindac’s office made public 21 photos showing Napoles undergoing medical checkup after she was turned over to SAF officials.
Sindac said PNP chief Alan Purisima approved the release of the photographs.
In one picture, Napoles was seen having her blood pressure checked by an unidentified male police doctor assisted by two female SAF personnel.
Napoles’ husband, retired Marine Maj. Jaime Napoles, was seated next to her while the doctor was talking to her at a white plastic table.
A diabetic, Napoles wore a printed blouse and looked calm.
In another photo, she was seen standing outside the door of one of the two rooms of the bungalow.
The bungalow had also been used to detain former President (and now Manila Mayor) Joseph Estrada, Sen. Gregorio Honasan and Moro rebel leader Nur Misuari.
During a round-table interview with Philippine Daily Inquirer reporters and editors in Makati on Aug. 8, Napoles repeatedly told photojournalist Edwin Bacasmas to stop taking photographs of her, saying she looked haggard.
“I have so many pictures already. If you want, I will just give you one,” Napoles told Bacasmas in jest.
Hours after she turned herself in to the President, the PNP made public the mug shots and hand prints of Napoles after she was booked by the PNP Crime Laboratory for Criminal Case No. 13-1992.
Alleged to be the owner of 28 houses and condominium units — including some in posh subdivisions and residential buildings in Metro Manila — Napoles should now make do with a 88-square-meter bungalow inside the police camp.
The detention facility is surrounded by two layers of steel fence, the photos show.
The bungalow’s inner steel fence was covered by blue plastic sacks, a material usually used in construction sites, ostensibly as part of the security plan.
Two female SAF commandos were seen standing in front of the house’s main steel gate.
After inspecting the jail facility on Saturday, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said the government was planning to install a closed circuit television camera outside the bungalow, which the public can view through live streaming on the Internet.
If the plan pushes through, some netizens said the woman accused of embezzling public money could actually be “the star of the next biggest reality TV show.”
