MANILA – Pork barrel scam principal suspect Janet Lim Napoles’ provisional admission to the Witness Protection Program (WPP) does not mean she will be released from detention, the Department of Justice (DOJ) clarified.
DOJ secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II also said there is no truth to some newspaper reports that Napoles’ pending cased in the Sandiganbayan and other courts will be dropped.
“Hindi po totoo ang nakalagay sa dyaryo na pakakawalan si Napoles,” Aguirre said. “Lahat ng kanyang kaso na pending sa Sandiganbayan o saan man ay hindi kailanman maapektuhan kahit konti.”
Napoles will remain in detention, he stressed, “At kung ano man ang status niya sa kaso niya, ‘yun pa rin ‘yun,” he added. “This WPP admission niya will only, if any, be sa mga forthcoming or new cases to be filed.”
Aguirre also denied that they have offered Napoles something in return in exchange of her spilling the beans on the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) misuse.
“Wala kaming deal na offer sa kanya. Ang hinihingi lang namin ay to show or to know ano ba ang maitutulong mo sa prosecution ng mga criminal, mga offender, mga nagkasala sa gobyerno,” Aguirre said.
The WPP seeks to encourage a person who has witnessed or has knowledge of the commission of a crime to testify before a court or an investigating authority, by protecting the person from revenge and from economic dislocation.
In May last year Aguirre explored the possibility of turning Napoles into state witness to shed light on the PDAF scam.
The camp Napoles have also expressed their willingness to be admitted in DOJ-WPP but the Office of Ombudsman has threatened to block any possibility of turning Napoles to state witness.
Napoles faces several plunder and graft charges before six divisions of Sandiganbayan for her alleged involvement in a P10-billion pork barrel scam.
Napoles allegedly conspired with about 12 former lawmakers to divert public funds to her fake nongovernmental organizations./PN
