Napoles won’t pay bills, wants to stay in hospital for 3 months

MANILA, Philippines—The woman accused of pocketing billions of pesos in public funds has avoided returning to jail by simply not paying less than P100,000 in hospital bills at a public medical facility in Makati City.

Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged architect of the P10-billion pork barrel scam, has been confined since March 31 at Ospital ng Makati (OsMak), where she underwent surgery to remove her ovaries and uterus.

The Philippine National Police on Wednesday said it temporarily held off its plan to take Napoles back to a detention bungalow in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna province, because of her unpaid bills.

Hospital officials told the policemen securing Napoles that they could not issue a discharge clearance until Napoles settle her account. A report from OsMak showed that the businesswoman has incurred a total of P97,116.43 in hospital services.

In a press briefing at Camp Crame, PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac said the police were also awaiting the resolution of Napoles’ petition asking a Makati regional trial court (RTC) to let her stay at the hospital until all her medical checkups are completed.

Her lawyers filed the “very urgent motion” in Makati RTC Branch 150 just before the court closed on Tuesday. Napoles is undergoing trial on serious illegal detention charges filed by her former aide and pork scam whistle-blower Benhur Luy.

“The PNP will not effect the transfer of Napoles due to some obstacles,” Sindac told reporters. “But the primary reason for this is because she has unpaid bills of over P97,000.”

Moreover, he said, government prosecutors handling the illegal detention case against Napoles “deemed it necessary to hold this movement in abeyance to be able to study (her) petition.”

“Unfortunately, our hands are tied. We respect this for the time being and we will see how this goes with the government prosecution panel,” Sindac said.

PNP won’t pay

Asked if the PNP would check on Napoles’ supposed inability to settle her hospital account, Sindac said: “I think that is already beyond our capability or function if she has the capability to pay the hospital bills.”

“We will comply with the order of the court to return Napoles (to her detention facility) as soon as possible. We hope we will have a speedy resolution to this impasse because this is new to us,” he stressed.

The PNP will not pay the cost of her hospitalization, he said, noting that Judge Elmo Alameda of the Makati RTC had ordered Napoles to settle her hospital bills.

Based on the seven-page pleading, Napoles’ lawyers told the court that they wanted her to remain at the hospital for three more months as her doctors required her to undergo regular and routine medical checkups once a week for one month, once every two weeks for the succeeding month, and once a month afterward.

The motion was filed despite the clearances given to her by her attending doctors at OsMak and SLMC, who earlier told the court that she was fit to leave the hospital based on their clinical assessment.

Napoles’ doctors, Efren Domingo and Elsie Badillo-Pascua, both obstetrician-gynecologists at SLMC in Taguig City, told reporters in a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon that Napoles had fully recovered, except for the wound pains.

Her blood sugar and blood pressure levels, however, keep her at Osmak, according to the doctors she hired from SLMC.

‘Complete bed rest’

Napoles’ lawyers, however, argued in the court pleading that since the procedure done on her was open surgery, a complete bed rest is likewise recommended to enable her to fully recover in a place that is “more sanitized, hygienic and sterile.”

They also cited the inconvenience and impracticality that Napoles’ travel may cause to the security personnel who will be tasked with transferring her back and forth to the hospital for checkups.

Earlier reports said the PNP had spent P120,000 for the security arrangements carried out during Napoles’ transfer from Fort Sto. Domingo to either the Makati court or to the hospital.

Napoles’ lawyers said her attending doctors’ tight schedules would prevent them from seeing Napoles in a place other than SLMC or their clinic.

The hearing on the motion was set for May 14, one of the court personnel said.

Sindac said the PNP had already mapped out a security plan for Napoles’ return to Fort Sto. Domingo, the police training school in Laguna where she had been detained since September last year over the case filed against her by Luy.—With a report from Gil C. Cabacungan

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