Freed house help won’t testify against Napoles
Still traumatized by her incarceration, Dominga Cadelina, 56, a house help of 10 years of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, will not be joining her former coworkers as a whistle-blower, her daughter Liza said.
Cadelina was released recently from the Makati City Jail after the qualified theft charges filed against her by Napoles’ husband, Jaime Napoles, and brother, Reynald Lim, were dropped by the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC).
“My mother has suffered but she decided she will not be a whistle-blower, and besides one whistle-blower in the family is enough. We also have to make a living,” Liza told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.
Liza, herself a former girl friday of Napoles, is one of the whistle-blowers who submitted sworn affidavits to the National Bureau of Investigation detailing their knowledge of Napoles’ alleged scam.
“There were people who were trying to convince her to execute an affidavit about what she knew of the Napoles scam, but we want to spare her. Anyway one of us is already a whistle-blower against Napoles,” Liza said.
She said it was not only the decision of her mother, but also of her siblings, not to let her be a witness against Napoles.
Knows a lot
“She knows a lot, but for her security she might go home to the province as soon as we feel it is safe for her to leave Manila,” Liza added.
She said her mother was in a safe house provided by Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Acosta.
“My mother served Madame Janet for years and despite what happened, she has mixed emotions about her. She pities her and prays for her,” Liza said.
In a previous interview, Cadelina said she did not get a chance to see or talk to Napoles when the latter was held overnight at the Makati City Jail.
Cadelina said during that interview that her cell mates had asked if she had money because her boss “was Napoles.”
She shared her “mixed feelings” about her former boss whom she served “hand and foot.”
Cadelina said she faithfully waited on Napoles in her bedroom and even in the bathroom, washing and brushing her hair.
“Happy, but sad about what happened to her, and I even prayed for her safety when she was brought out of jail and transferred to Laguna,” she told the Inquirer in Filipino.
Cadelina was released from jail last week after Judge Carlito Calpatura of Makati RTC Branch 145 dismissed the qualified theft charges filed against her by her former employers.
Napoles’ husband and Lim, who is himself a fugitive, accused Cadelina of stealing $13,400 worth of luxury bags, women’s underwear and clothes from the family on Jan. 29 this year.
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