P-Noy promises to keep Napoles safe

Everybody in the law enforcement agencies were supposedly looking for Janet Lim-Napoles as the alleged mastermind in the P10-billion pork barrel fund scam. The hunt for her arrest or capture should have gained momentum after President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III announced on Wednesday a P10-million reward was placed on her head.

Lo and behold! Napoles waltzed in to Malacañang later that night to voluntarily surrender herself to no less than President Aquino. She casually walked into the Palace, which is one of the most tightly secured places in the Philippines. Wearing a hoodie jacket to obviously hide her identity, Napoles stepped back into the limelight that she escaped from after the noose started to close in on her.

And why on earth did the Presidential Security Group (PSG) allow her inside the Palace? Napoles was accompanied by husband Jimmy, their topnotch legal counsel Lorna Kapunan and P-Noy’s presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, that’s why.

Lacierda, a self-confessed former associate of the Roco, Bunag & Kapunan Law Office, admitted he was the one who paved the way for the surrender of Napoles. In an early morning press conference at the Palace, Lacierda explained in detail it was him who initiated a call to Kapunan Wednesday morning to confirm media reports quoting her that Napoles wanted to surrender. 

Lacierda jokingly dismissed questions that he would claim the P10-million reward money for any information that will lead to the arrest of Napoles. Acceding to requests for official photo and video of the surrender to the President at the Palace, Lacierda said they would gladly do so amid reports Napoles had face surgery. “She (Napoles) does not look like Attorney Kapunan,” Lacierda wisecracked. 

Levity aside, Lacierda quoted Kapunan as telling him about her client’s desire to surrender because she “trusts” President Aquino. Remember, Napoles earlier disclosed she wrote and sent a letter to President Aquino to complain about certain agents and lawyers of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) who were allegedly trying to extort from them.

Apparently this was why President Aquino turned over Napoles to Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas II and Philippine National Police (PNP) director-general Alan Purisima instead of the NBI. 

Is P-Noy not worried about giving Napoles to the PNP? Only too recently, the captured Ozamiz gang leaders got salvaged in San Pedro, Laguna by cops a few hours after being presented by Roxas in a press conference at Camp Crame. 

Lacierda related Kapunan’s concern for the safety of Napoles due to purported threats to her client’s life. He could not give details though to media as to from whom or from where the threats are coming from, except citing Kapunan claiming there are certain plots to silence Napoles from implicating people in power.

Napoles joined the growing list of the most wanted fugitives in the country after the Makati City regional trial court (RTC) issued last August 14 a warrant of arrest against her in connection with illegal detention charges. The troubles of Napoles started after illegal detention case was filed by one of her former employees, Benhur Luy against her and her brother Reginald Lim.

Actually, this case had been previously dismissed upon recommendation of state prosecutors of the Department of Justice (DOJ). But this was later reversed by DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima after Luy and several other former employees blew the whistle on the racket of Napoles who allegedly used bogus non-government organizations (NGOs) to corner as much as P10 billion worth of “pork-barrel” funds of certain senators and congressmen.

Naturally, Napoles vehemently denied the allegations. But incriminating photos of her close associations with certain senators and congressmen started to come out in media. And these allegations gained credence after Commission on Audit (COA) chairperson Grace Pulido-Tan came out in a press conference to confirm at least ten NGOs affiliated with Napoles indeed got allocations from several lawmakers.

This was based on the COA audit of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of senators and congressmen from 2007 to 2009. It was enough reason for Napoles to go into hiding after earlier making herself available to media interviews to defend herself. 

From what he later gathered, Lacierda said Napoles has been in Metro Manila all this time in the past 14 days since she went into hiding. Lacierda, who is Chinoy, revealed he and Napoles spoke to each other in Mandarin about their common Chinese heritage while they were together in the car that took them from Heritage Park in Fort Bonifacio where they clandestinely met before going to the Palace.

Lacierda though had a hard time parrying criticisms of “special treatment” given to Napoles who was received by P-Noy at the Palace. He could only refer to previous administrations of former Presidents Manuel Quezon and Ramon Magsaysay as also having received at the Palace former communist leaders who surrendered peacefully to the government. 

In my coverage when still a reporter at the Palace, there were instances that big-time criminals captured by police were presented in handcuffs. This was done during the term of former Presidents Joseph Estrada and even ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo early in her administration.

The official photo releases by the Palace showing Napoles and Kapunan seated comfortably in a sofa looked familiar. It is one of the function rooms at the second floor of the Palace. This is where the President received state guests and other official visitors.

What adds to perceived “special treatment” was that P-Noy even went to Camp Crame where Napoles was taken for temporary custody. Lacierda insisted it was not a case of “special treatment” but it was P-Noy’s way to assuage Napoles, who was safely delivered to authorities after she promised to cooperate in the “pork-barrel” scam investigation.

As of press time yesterday, the PNP is still checking if the Makati City Jail will be a safe place of detention for Napoles among the 52 female inmates there. The female inmates reportedly included a former Napoles house helper who has been jailed for qualified theft. P-Noy made a promise to Napoles to keep her safe. Let’s see how.