MANILA, Philippines–Several senators want their detained colleagues to remain in Camp Crame, the national police headquarters in Quezon City, instead of being transferred to a regular jail like alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.
Napoles was transferred on July 28 to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) lockup at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City after staying for months at Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna province.
Senators Vicente Sotto III and Gregorio Honasan II filed a resolution on Monday expressing the sense of the Senate to keep Juan Ponce Enrile, Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame so that they would have the space to continue their duties as elected lawmakers.
The detained senators, like Napoles, are facing plunder charges for allegedly pocketing their pork barrel funds. Plunder is a nonbailable offense.
Presumed innocent
The resolution said the three detained senators were presumed innocent until proven guilty, as provided for in the Bill of Rights.
It also cited the constitutional provision that the Senate or House of Representatives alone may decide how its members may be disciplined, suspended or expelled.
Sen. JV Ejercito, a member of the Senate minority and half-brother of Senator Estrada, supported the resolution. “The appeal is valid, I think, since the trial is ongoing,” he said.
Sen. Nancy Binay pointed out that the three senators were not the only detainees at the PNP headquarters.
Binay said she saw no need to transfer the three to another place. “Technically, they will still be detained if they are kept there,” she said.
Discharge duties
Binay also said that even if the suspension of the three senators pushed through, it would last only 90 days and they should remain in Camp Crame so that they could continue discharging their duties as duly elected legislators.
The detention of the accused is a matter decided by the courts.
Earlier, government prosecutors asked the Sandiganbayan to order the transfer of Revilla and Estrada to Camp Bagong Diwa, saying there was no legal basis to keep them at the four-room bungalow at the PNP headquarters, since the space was not intended to be a detention facility.
The 90-year-old Enrile, on the other hand, has been temporarily staying at the PNP General Hospital because of his delicate health.
He has asked the court to place him under hospital arrest but government prosecutors have opposed his motion, saying he has not justified the request.
Government prosecutors also earlier sought the transfer of Napoles from Fort Sto. Domingo to Camp Bagong Diwa. The antigraft court has since granted the motion and Napoles was brought to a regular jail cell late Monday night.
Napoles joined 138 other detainees at the Taguig City Jail Female Dormitory, which was designed to accommodate only 78 inmates.
Three days after the Sandiganbayan Third Division released an order directing Napoles’ transfer from Fort Sto. Domingo, the accused was escorted by BJMP personnel to her new detention facility at Camp Bagong Diwa on Monday night.
Convoy
At 11:15 p.m., the convoy carrying Napoles arrived at the BJMP jail where her fingerprints and mug shots were taken as part of the police booking procedure, according to BJMP-NCR spokesman Aris Villaester.
Villaester said the accused was accompanied by husband Jaime and three legal counsels.
Members of the media were not allowed to enter Camp Bagong Diwa hours before Napoles’ arrival as the BJMP said it was part of the safety protocol for her transfer.
Coaccused Reyes
But in an interview a few minutes after the arrival of Napoles in Taguig, Villaester said the accused was staying at a 3-meter by 3-meter room on the ground floor of the female dormitory where pork barrel scam coacccused Gigi Reyes is also being detained.
“Actually, they are staying in adjacent rooms but we are planning to transfer Napoles to a room at the back of the facility,” Villaester said.
He said it was the BJMP’s standard operating procedure to initially keep high-profile and high-risk inmates in isolation rooms for one week before they could be transferred to quarters and join other inmates.
Room without steel bars
The BJMP spokesman, however, said that Napoles’ room did not have steel bars or railings as it was previously used by male inmates for their livelihood projects.
“Its windows and doors do not have bars but it is still secured since highly trained female guards will be assigned to watch over her 24/7,” he said.
Asked to describe the facilities inside Napoles’ new detention cell, Villaester said there was a wooden bed, ceiling fan and restroom inside.
“We will also provide her with a mattress but I think she has already requested from her family some pillows and a blanket,” Villaester said.
The alleged pork barrel queen was “sad” when she arrived at the BJMP facility, Villaester said.
“But we told her that she will be safer here and that this detention facility is more secure,” the BJMP spokesman added.
As for the medical condition of Napoles, Villaester said that her blood pressure was normal at 130/90. He added that nurses would be available 24 hours to monitor the condition of the inmates, including Napoles and Reyes.
Psychiatrist’s advice
Reyes, according to Villaester, is still weak after her hypertension attack two weeks ago. She remains at an isolation room as the BJMP awaits a psychiatrist’s advice if she can already be transferred to the inmates’ quarters.
Both high-profile detainees can be visited by their legal counsels any time of the day, while their family members and other visitors should follow the standard visiting hours—1 p.m. to 5 p.m. from Tuesdays to Fridays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the weekend.
Like other inmates in the facility, Napoles will be given the normal food ration that costs P50 a day but covers all three main meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner), according to Villaester.
Asked if the P50 food allocation was enough for the inmates to enjoy a decent meal, Villaester said that inmates could eat a cup of rice with meat and vegetables for every meal since their food is bought in bulk.
The BJMP spokesman said that food sent by family members and friends would be allowed but would be carefully checked by jail guards.
State-of-the-art jail
Napoles and Reyes are expected to be eventually transferred to the high-risk and high-profile jail facility being constructed beside their current detention center.
The “state-of-the-art” jail, which is expected to be finished next year, will have some 200 rooms with computerized locks. Each room can hold three inmates.
But Villaester denied reports that the facility was a “VIP” jail.
“The BJMP would like to clear that the facility being constructed is not a VIP jail facility but a high-risk/high profile jail,” Villaester explained.
He said the building was proposed in 2012 to address the growing number of high-risk inmates (people who have the capacity or tendency to escape or cause a jail disturbance) and high-profile inmates (those who are well-known in society like high-ranking officials and celebrities).
“The building is designed to provide the best security for these kinds of inmates,” Villaester noted.
On Wednesday, the Sandiganbayan is set to hear the motion for reconsideration of Napoles whose lawyers tried but failed to block her transfer to Camp Bagong Diwa.–With a report from Marlon Ramos