Business as usual at Fort Sto. Domingo

Janet Napoles. PHOTO courtesy of PNP-PIO and PNP-SAF photographers

SAN PEDRO, Laguna—It’s business as usual at Fort Sto. Domingo in spite of the presence of its newest star detainee, Janet Lim-Napoles.

Director General Carmelo Valmoria of the Special Action Force (SAF) said activities at the Philippine National Police training camp in San Pedro were on a normal schedule.

However, Valmoria said his men assigned to secure Napoles, the alleged mastermind of a P10-billion pork barrel scam, had to be up to speed on their new task.

“It’s not in our expertise to handle detainees that’s why we have to undergo training with the BJMP (Bureau of Jail Management and Penology),” he said in a phone interview yesterday.

In addition, two food tasters had been assigned to check on Napoles’ meal rations, said Senior Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, the PNP spokesperson. He said the facility’s cook and a female SAF commando were designated food tasters.

Same chow as trainees

“The cook will have to taste the food before it is brought to her detention facility. One of the two female SAF personnel assigned to Napoles will be the final food taster,” Sindac said.

Valmoria said Napoles was served the same food provided to around 300 SAF trainees in the camp—ham, eggs and rice for breakfast Monday and lunch of sinigang na bangus, rice and banana.

Napoles, 49, surrendered to President Aquino on Wednesday night, saying she did so because she feared for her life. After a 10-minute meeting at the Palace, she was escorted by the President to the PNP headquarters at Camp Crame, where she spent the night. The following night, she was moved to Makati City Jail.

The businesswoman was transferred to the SAF training school early Sunday morning, accompanied by her husband, a former Marine major who looked after her medicines and insulin shots. A diabetic, she is staying in a two-bedroom bungalow guarded by two female SAF personnel.

Having VIP detainees is nothing new in Fort Sto. Domingo.

After his arrest in April 2001, former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada was detained in a specially built bungalow in the three-hectare camp, purportedly due to “imminent danger” to his life.

Moro leader and former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Nur Misuari was also detained in this facility in 2002. So was Sen. Gregorio Honasan after his capture in 2006 for his alleged participation in the 2003 Oakwood mutiny.

Health condition normal

The first visitors of Napoles on Sunday were her sons James and Christian, daughter Christine, and lawyers Bettina Zamora and Deanna Singian who all left around 7:30 p.m., according to a post on the PNP’s official Facebook page.

Napoles’ blood pressure shot up after her first night at the facility. She said she had an “anxiety attack,” Sindac said. Around 3 a.m., her blood sugar dropped while her blood pressure shot up to 180/150, he said. A staff doctor and nurse attended to her. Her condition returned to normal an hour later.

Sindac played down suggestions that Napoles might use her medical condition to seek hospital arrest, saying her physical state was “normal and stable.”

The SAF provided Napoles with an electric fan and considered allowing a refrigerator where she could store her medicines.

“But we would allow only a small one. We would not allow just about any appliance as this could result in a high consumption of electricity,” he said.

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