Palace not bothered by delay in completion of Napoles affidavit

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—So what if Janet Lim Napoles is taking her sweet time in executing her affidavit?

Unfazed by the delay in the completion of Napoles’ affidavit, Malacañang reminded the public on Saturday that the Office of the Ombudsman had already resolved to indict her in the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the legal process against Napoles would move regardless of when she would complete her purported tell-all affidavit on the scam.

Coloma said her affidavit, once complete, would be vetted by the Ombudsman, and should not sidetrack the earlier Ombudsman resolution.

“The wheels of justice have already moved forward. The tendency that this is being reset with her new affidavit must be resisted. That’s not how the legal system works. She’s a respondent. It’s not as if she’s operating in a vacuum,’’ Coloma said in an interview.

The Ombudsman in April ruled there was enough basis to take Napoles, Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada, and several others to court for plunder and graft in connection with diversion of money from legislators’ Priority Development Assistance Fund to private pockets.

The Ombudsman was expected to file the indictments in the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court after ruling with the respondents’ motion to reconsider the decision to bring the case to trial.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has twice asked for an extension from the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to submit Napoles’ affidavit. Last Thursday, she asked anew for a four-day extension, saying Napoles’ current condition has kept her from completing her affidavit. Her new deadline is on Monday.

Doctors at the Ospital ng Makati, where she remains confined weeks after undergoing an operation to remove her uterus and ovaries on April 23, testified in a Makati City court that she was suffering from vaginal bleeding.

On the motion of Napoles’ lawyers, the Makati judge suspended his May 20 order directing the police to bring her back to her place of detention at a police training camp in Laguna.

Coloma said Napoles’ new affidavit would be compared with an earlier sworn statement she submitted to the Ombudsman, but its submission should not reset the legal process.

“How does this square with the previous submission? It can’t be that we start from zero. I don’t think that’s the process,’’ he said.

Over government-run radio, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Malacañang agreed with the call of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on lawmakers to let the impartial investigation of the scam take its course.

“We’re one with the call: Let’s allow the process to unfold and go where the evidence will take us. Our laws have put down a process that we all follow, especially when it comes to the investigation, prosecution, and hearing, and eventual dispensation of a criminal charge,’’ she said.

Reacting to Napoles’ reported desire to be granted immunity, Valte deferred to the Ombudsman to decide on this.

“Let’s wait for her affidavit before we consider requests, and the conditions. Let her finish her affidavit first.… In American colloquial language, you know, ‘You put your money where your mouth is’,’’ she said.

RELATED STORIES

De Lima given extension to submit lengthy Napoles list to Senate

De Lima seeks another extension for submission of lengthy Napoles list