Kept out of the loop, NBI to go after Janet coddlers

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which was kept out of the loop in the surrender of Janet Lim-Napoles, is planning to investigate the persons who coddled her and helped her elude government arrest for nearly three weeks.

“Definitely, this will be part of our investigation. (We want to know) how she managed to have hidden, whether there are persons who harbored her and her brother (Reynald Lim),” NBI director Nonnatus Rojas said yesterday.

Napoles’ lawyer Lorna Kapunan said her client wanted to surrender to President Aquino personally, and not to the NBI, because the Chief Executive is the only person she trusts.

Rojas assured the public that those who helped the Napoles siblings will be held criminally liable.

The two were ordered arrested by a Makati court on Aug. 15 over the serious illegal detention case filed against them by pork barrel scam whistle-blower Benhur Luy.

Before Napoles surfaced, Kapunan insisted that she did not know where they were hiding.

Rojas, however, said that based on information they have received, Reynald is still in the country.

Rojas said he was “surprised” to hear that Napoles has finally surfaced, as the NBI has searched for her all over the country but their efforts proved futile.

Nonetheless, he welcomed Napoles’ decision to finally surrender, as it would be a big help to the probe.

Rojas said the NBI has no plans to call Napoles yet as part of their investigation.

“It depends. We’ll examine our evidence so far. If there is a need to call her in for verification, we will. If we see that our evidence is complete, there might be no need,” he said.