BuCor asked to explain Napoles’ inclusion in GCTA list

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to explain why Janet Lim Napoles has been included as among the prisoners released due to their Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA).

“We have asked BuCor an explanation on this,” Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete told reporters on Thursday.

But Perete assured that Napoles remains incarcerated at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City following her plunder conviction at the Sandiganbayan on December 2018 in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

“Janet Lim Napoles has not been released. She remains at the Correctional Institution for Women,” Perete said.

The list, which was submitted by the BuCor to the Senate, showed that Janet Lim Napoles was released on November 12, 2018 following the expiration of sentence for a rape conviction.

The list also showed that she has the prison number N211P-2332 which meant she was admitted to the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City in 2011.

But NBP houses only male convicts and Napoles was arrested in 2013 after warrants for her arrest on the PDAF scam was issued by the Sandiganbayan.

After she was convicted of serious illegal detention which was filed against her by PDAF scam whistleblower Benhur Luy, she was moved to the CIW from a Laguna detention facility. But the case was dismissed by the Court of Appeals in 2017, prompting her transfer to the detention facility of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City. She again moved to CIW after her plunder conviction.

Napoles is still facing a string of charges including the non-bailable plunder offenses before the Sandiganbayan in connection with the PDAF scam. /je

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