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BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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Saturday, March 17, 2018
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MANILA – Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III called as “unbelievable” and “crazy” the Department of Justice (DOJ) move to place Janet Lim Napoles under provisional government protection.
Napoles is currently detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Camp Bagong Diwa in connection with the multi-billion pork barrel scam.
A certification signed by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Ma. Nerissa Molina-Carpio showed that the alleged pork barrel queen was provisionally admitted to the Witness Protection Program of the DOJ effective Feb. 27, 2018.
“Do some people in the DOJ really believe that Janet Lim Napoles is qualified to be a state witness in the PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) scam which she herself invented, organized and perpetuated?” the senate chief asked.
Sen. Joel Villanueva hoped the Justice department has a “good strategy” in its decision to consider Napoles as a state witness.
“So far, I haven’t seen that in the way the Secretary (Vitaliano Aguirre II) handled the immigration issue where P1,000 disappeared, so the case was downgraded from plunder to an ordinary criminal case, with the case of (Kerwin) Espinosa and (Peter) Lim being dismissed and now with Napoles turning into state witness. I don’t want to preempt their approach. But really, I hope the (Aguirre) has a good one,” Villanueva said.
Sen. Bam Aquino said the DOJ has failed to uphold justice.
“Nasaan ang hustisya para sa mga biktima ng war on drugs at para sa taumbayang nanakawan ng pinaghirapang yaman?” Aquino asked.
He also reminded the DOJ of its mandate to “enact justice for the Filipino people, not to protect drug lords and criminal masterminds.”
Sen. Risa Hontiveros regarded the DOJ decision as “a travesty of justice.”
“It reverses the gains won by the people in our anti-corruption struggle which culminated in the historic Million People March,” Hontiveros said.
She added she would not be surprised if Napoles would be used as a “political weapon” to harass those who oppose the Duterte administration./PN
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