Gov’t should keep Napoles safe in case she decides to tell all– Roxas

Janet Lim-Napoles being escort‎ed by personnel of Regional Public Safety Battalion Region 4A Calabarzon and Special Action Forces. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II thinks detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles should stay just where she is.

Amid calls for the government to transfer the alleged brains of the P10-billion pork barrel scam to a regular jail, Roxas said it would be better to keep her at the special detention facility in a police training camp in Santa Rosa City in Laguna to ensure her safety.

Roxas said the Aquino administration might be blamed if anything happened to her while inside a regular jail.

He said officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) have admitted that ensuring Napoles’ safety would be “difficult” if she were locked up in a regular prison cell with common criminals.

“It’s very possible that something bad might happen to her and the government would be accused of intentionally exposing her to danger to permanently silence her…and to protect the allies of the Aquino administration. Then that would be an issue against the government,” Roxas said.

“For me, it would be better to jail her separately so we can preserve whatever she knows and give her a chance to disclose the details of this pilferage of billions of pesos in people’s money,” Roxas said in an interview on Friday.

“Let’s give her protection so that we can preserve whatever is in her mind,” he told reporters before inspecting commercial establishments along the shores of Boracay in Aklan.

But Roxas stressed that it would be up to Makati Regional Trial Court to determine whether to transfer Napoles to a regular jail, saying the PNP has just been complying with the court’s order to keep her at Fort Sto. Domingo, the training school of the PNP Special Action Force where she has been detained since September 2013.

“If the DOJ (Department of Justice) says that her testimony is no longer needed, then it’s up to the DOJ to tell the court. We are just complying with the court’s order to separate her from ordinary inmates,” he said.

Asked if spending P120,000 in taxpayer money every time Napoles had to leave her detention facility has been worth it, Roxas said: “Billions of pesos in people’s money were lost in this scam. If you ask me, any information that Janet Napoles may provide to shed light on this (corruption issue) is important.”

The PNP earlier said it spent at least P120,000 each time it escorted Napoles out of her detention facility, sparking criticism on social media.

Since she was brought to Fort Sto. Domingo in September last year, Napoles has attended a Senate investigation on the pork barrel scam and was taken to the hospital twice.

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