Palace changes tune on Enrile detention

MANILA, Philippines - It’s up to the courts to decide where Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile should be detained, Malacañang clarified yesterday.

But the Palace sees nothing wrong with the Philippine National Police’s preparing detention rooms for the 90-year-old Enrile at the PNP General Hospital in anticipation of a Sandiganbayan order for his arrest.

In a press briefing, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. stressed it was not for the executive branch to give Enrile special treatment, even if President Aquino had said in Japan that the senator’s advanced age should be considered in finding a place to have him detained.

He said it’s the court that would decide on where to detain Enrile and that the President had only expressed his opinion on the issue.

Coloma said it is best for the PNP to prepare for whatever instruction the court might relay to executive officials.

The PNP General Hospital is inside Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Coloma said the administration acknowledges criticism from Scrap Pork Network, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and others that detainees and prisoners are not treated equally, hence its vigorous pursuit of judicial reforms.

The VACC had criticized Aquino for speaking on Enrile’s condition, saying this might influence the decision of the court.

“We acknowledge that the current system of criminal justice in our country is not perfect, there are many things that must be changed. That is the why the government is pushing for the needed reforms,” Coloma said.

Coloma said there must be a specific order for the detention of the three senators and that authorities had considered prevailing “special circumstances” in choosing their places of detention.

“There is no intention to implement unequal treatment. And that lack of equality, that is an issue continuously being addressed as part of the reforms being pushed by the government,” he said.

“In his press conference while en route to Hiroshima (on June 24), the President emphasized his belief that the courts will be cognizant of fulfilling their obligations and may consider the factor of the advanced age of Senator Enrile,” Coloma said.

Now detained for plunder are Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr.

No suspension yet

With regard to Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos who is among those charged with graft, Coloma said there is no preventive suspension order yet on him.

“Mario Relampagos is a career executive service officer who is by law afforded security of tenure,” Coloma said, adding that based on Civil Service Commission rules, Relampagos is entitled to due process before getting slapped with suspension.

“The same principle applies to other government officials and employees covered by CSC rules,” Coloma said.

He said a process must be followed to protect the rights of government people, including the conduct of necessary investigation, to determine the basis for suspension.

Relampagos, his staff members Rosario Nuñez, Lalaine Paule and Marilou Bare, are facing graft charges in connection with the pork barrel scam. They posted bail last week.

Malacañang earlier said it would not ask Relampagos and his staff to resign, or “at least not until they haven’t been proven guilty.”

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad earlier said that the concerned budget employees were still performing their duties at the DBM but with “limited responsibilities.”

According to whistle-blower Benhur Luy, Relampagos and his staff were the DBM contacts of alleged scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

Napoles allegedly facilitated the swift release of special allotment release orders (SAROs) and notice of cash allocations (NCAs) for the senators’ Priority Development Assistance Fund, also known as pork barrel.

The PDAF allocations were allegedly diverted to fake NGOs put up by Napoles.

Lawmakers reportedly received kickbacks in exchange for channeling their PDAF funds to Napoles’ dubious foundations.

Meanwhile, the PNP also said it is ready to take in as detainees Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes and Pauline Labayen – the only women among those charged with plunder and graft.

Reyes is a former chief of staff of Enrile while Labayen is a staff of Estrada.

Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac, director of the PNP-Public Information Office, said the fourth detention cell may be reserved for Reyes and Labayen. He said the cell is inaccessible from the first three cells.

“They have put a barrier between the third and fourth detention cells,” said Sindac. “It’s just one of the options. But as we have been saying in the past, it’s the court which has the final say.”

The 4th room has a double deck bed, a night table, a toilet with shower.

Police are also mulling over the possibility of putting both Reyes and Labayen at the main detention facility with the other female inmates.

Reconciliation

For Sen. JV Ejercito, his half-brother’s getting jailed for plunder has made him consider reconciling with him.

In a press briefing in Legazpi City yesterday, Ejercito said he was surprised to feel sorry for his brother when he saw him turn himself in to authorities last Monday.

“All the while I thought my relationship with my brother is already irreconcilable. But when I saw my brother surrendering at the Sandiganbayan, I suddenly feel sad. I felt that he is my brother after all,” Ejercito said.

Ejercito said he would not have felt the need to reconcile with Estrada if the latter had not been charged and detained for his alleged participation in the pork barrel scam.

“Yes, I believe that this event helps me think that in due time, we would be in good terms again as brothers. I always believe that things happen for a reason. And this includes what happened to my brother Jinggoy,” Ejercito said.

He admitted they were never on speaking terms.

Asked if he is expecting any request for help from their father for Jinggoy, Ejercito said: “No. My father would not tell me to help my bother because he very well knows that I will not heed him. I am hard-headed when it already involves my principles in life.”

He also shrugged off allegations that Jinggoy was getting special treatment in detention.

“It does not matter whether his jail has better facilities than the rest of the prisoners. After all, a cage although made of gold remains a cage. The people inside have no freedom,” Ejercito said, adding that “it is enough that the judicial processes are being observed.” Cet Dematera, Cecille Suerte Felipe