Escudero slams ‘kid-gloves treatment’ of Napoles

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Why have the police and prosecutors suddenly turned soft on Janet Lim Napoles?

Senator Francis Escudero took to task the police and prosecutors on Thursday for tolerating Napoles’ extended stay in hospital.

Miffed by what he called their kid-gloves treatment of Napoles,  Escudero wondered why the Philippine National Police dilly-dallied in enforcing the court order to return her to her place of detention in Laguna pending payment of her hospital bills.

“The police have suddenly become doctors. Now they’re saying she could not be discharged because of her unpaid bills.… The doctors have become lawyers and are saying she has a pending motion for reconsideration,”  Escudero told a Senate press forum.

And what was glaring in all this was the inaction of the prosecutors “to question the action of the police and doctors,” he said.

Specifically, it was the job of the prosecutors to move to cite her in contempt  because the court could not do this on its own, the senator said.

“Why is she being treated with kid gloves? At the very least, she’s being treated with kid gloves right now. If there is conspiracy or a deal, I don’t know anything about that,” he added.

To ensure her scheduled transfer to a bungalow inside a police training camp in Sta. Rosa town, south of Manila, Ospital ng Makati (OsMak) should have allowed Napoles’ discharge on condition it would collect the bill later on, the senator said.

“Other hospitals won’t accept patients without deposit. This hospital admitted her without deposit. How come it doesn’t want to discharge her? It’s incomprehensible,” he said.

It was clear this was a tactic by Napoles to delay  her transfer back to her police detention, he said.

Napoles underwent surgery for removal of her ovaries and uterus at the OsMak.

The PNP on Wednesday temporarily put off its plan to return her to her place of  detention because of her unpaid bills amounting more than  P97,000.

After saying she was fit to be discharged, hospital officials said they could not issue a clearance for discharge until she settled her account.

Her lawyers also filed an “urgent motion” with the Makati court late Tuesday to let her stay in the hospital until all her checkups were completed.

Escudero said the government’s tolerance of Napoles could set a bad precedent for other detainees.

“I don’t want to think of any motive, but it has made me wonder because the PNP isn’t that kind to the other accused.… If that’s the real reason, then all those who can’t pay their bills will not be returned to jail. Is that the message they want to send?” he said.

Escudero insisted Napoles was not  qualified to turn state’s witness since she was not the least guilty, and that her testimony ran counter to the testimonies of the whistleblowers.

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