Janet Lim-Napoles. Mark Balmores/Pool
MANILA, Philippines–Detained businesswoman and alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles was transferred by authorities late Monday night to a regular detention cell in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.
Napoles–escorted by a high-security convoy from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, Special Action Force, Highway Patrol Group and the health service–arrived in the police camp past 11 p.m.
Napoles, who is detained on charges of serious illegal detention, graft and plunder, was finally transferred to a regular jail Monday night after the Makati City Regional Trial Court (RTC) hearing the illegal detention case against Napoles said “it does not interpose any objection” to the Sandiganbayan Third Division’s resolution directing Napoles’ transfer from Fort Sto. Domingo to Camp Bagong Diwa.
Napoles was supposed to be transferred last Friday to Taguig but it was aborted since the PNP still had to clarify with the Makati RTC about her transfer.
In a three-page comment to the Sandiganbayan, Makati RTC Judge Elmo Alameda said there was “no conflict” between the order of the antigraft court and the position of the Makati RTC which, he noted, initially ordered Napoles to be detained at the Makati City Jail.
Alameda noted that Fort Sto. Domingo was not her original place of detention.
“Records of RTC Branch 150 will clearly show that the court directed the detention of the accused at the Makati City Jail,” Alameda said.
On Friday, the Third Division said that Napoles should be detained at “the jail nearest to the court.”
It added that the Fort Sto. Domingo facility was “not under the jurisdiction of the BJMP, hence it is not a jail.”
In a manifestation submitted to the Makati RTC on Monday, Napoles’ camp requested the court to “maintain” and “uphold” its prior commitment order which directed Napoles’ detention at Fort Sto. Domingo.
But Alameda said that with his released comment, the filed manifestation would not anymore be heard and would only be noted in court.
The Makati judge also noted that his comment was a clear go-signal that Napoles could already be transferred to the BJMP facility in Taguig.–With reports from Julie M. Aurelio and Maricar B. Brizuela, Philippine Daily Inquirer
Originally posted: 11:20 pm | Monday, July 28th, 2014
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