PNP: Renovated Crame jail not for pork barrel scam suspects

By: Julliane Love De Jesus - 11 years ago

Screengrab from pnp.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine National Police (PNP) assured on Monday that the renovations on its detention facilities were not meant to make the cells comfortable for high-profile detainees, particularly those implicated in the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Senior Superintendent Wilben Mayor, PNP spokesperson, ‎said in an interview that the refurbishment on one of its detention bungalows is part of the upgrading of PNP facilities in Camp Crame.

“Anything that we do, that is for the upgrading of our facilities. (The renovation) is not intended for a particular group,” Mayor said.

Earlier, the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said it was prepared to implement the arrest warrants for Senators Ramon Revilla Jr., Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada should the Sandiganbayan order their arrests.

The three were earlier recommended to be charged with plunder in connection with the intricate scheme of funneling their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to ghost nongovernment organizations of detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

‎Mayor reiterated that the standard conditions inside a cell require the construction of basic facilities, such as comfort rooms, as well as the installation of electric fans.

“Everyone right now needs an electric fan because of the hot weather,” the police official said.

‎He also said that the PNP was merely complying with the standards of the international human rights, requiring the condition inside detention cells to be humane.

“We should emphasize that they are still detainees. Everyone is presumed innocent unless proven otherwise,” Mayor added.