Witnesses for Ellah Joy decline special protection

THE prospect of being isolated from friends and loved ones was too much for four witnesses of Task Force Ellah Joy.

Asst. Regional Prosecutor Llena Ipong-Avila, program implementor of the Department of Justice (DOJ) witness protection program, said the four witnesses withdrew their application for coverage.

Avila earlier accepted the application of six witnesses for the program.

“The witnesses said they can no longer perform their daily routines. Also, they said they will miss their relatives,” Ipong said.

She said two witnesses who availed of the program’s “provisional coverage” can receive “travelling expenses, subsistence allowance, and security protection” when they testify in court.

Being under the state’s “provisional coverage,” the two witnesses will be secured for at least three months while waiting for Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to approve Avila’s recommendations.

One of the witnesses earlier claimed being offered P500,000 to recant statements earlier made against homicide suspects Bella Ruby Santos and her British partner Ian Charles Griffiths.

Three other witnesses were also approached with bribe offers.

However, Avila said the witnesses have not executed an affidavit regarding the bribery attempts.

Task Force Ellah Joy has 15 witnesses against Santos and Griffiths who face charges of kidnapping with homicide in court in relation to Ellah Joy Pique’s death.

Ellah Joy was kidnapped by a couple suspected to be Santos and Griffiths outside her school in barangay Calajo-an, Minglanilla town, last Feb. 8.

Her body was found at the bottom of a cliff near Sayaw Beach in Barili town the next day.

The witnesses who were admitted to the DOJ’s witness protection program will be placed in a safe house, granted allowances and provided with security escorts. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol