No problem, prosecutors say of Napoles bid for cell transfer

Alleged pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/RAFFY LERMA

A top official of the Department of Justice has no objections to the transfer of detained businesswoman and alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles to a “mothers’ ward” at the penal institution for women offenders.

Justice Undersecretary Jose Justiniano on Friday said that as long as the move has the sanction of Napoles’ doctors based on their assessment of her condition, he has no issue with the transfer.

“I don’t think it’s special treatment,” Justiniano said in an interview at the Sandiganbayan, where Napoles attended the continuation of the hearing of her pork barrel scam-related plunder cases, with former associate-turned-state witness Benhur Luy in the witness stand.

According to reports, Napoles was moved out of the general ward to the ward designated for mothers at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City on June 24.

CIW officer-in-charge Edelinda Patac was quoted as saying that Napoles now shares a cell with another inmate and her child, explaining that the general ward has become “congested.”

At Friday’s hearing before the Sandiganbayan Third Division, a lightly made-up Napoles in orange prisoner’s garb was her usual attentive self.

She was closely guarded by nine jail guards even during her short trips to the bathroom, even if only media men and court guards were standing in the hallway.

Justiniano refused to speculate about Napoles’ condition, saying that “if she is really ill, there’s no problem (with the cell transfer).”

“If she is ill she should be brought to the clinic. [We listen to] whatever the doctors say. Besides, that is up to the (Makati) RTC (Regional Trial Court) to discuss,” Justiniano said.

Last April 15, the Makati RTC Branch 150 sentenced Napoles and her brother Reynald Lim to life imprisonment or a jail term of up to 40 years for detaining Luy, their cousin and former employee, for three months, from December 2012 to March 2013. Lim remains at large.

She was brought to the CIW the following day from the Camp Bagong Diwa detention facility in Taguig City.

The Supreme Court granted the Sandiganbayan’s request to continue to hold court hearings for Napoles’ plunder cases in the anti-graft court building in Quezon City, instead of in the women’s prison facility.