Spare my children – Janet
Businesswoman Janet Lim- Napoles may settle for something less than immunity from prosecution, but she wants her children to be spared, according to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
ontrary to p blished reports, the alleged mastermind of the por barrel scam is not imposing an imm nity or nothing condition in e - change for her testimony in the scam, e ima told The STAR the other night.
t she s a mother and she has one re est don t to ch her children, e ima said.
here are no specifics on what sparing the children might entail. t e ima said the children are li ely to be indicted only for graft instead of pl nder. graft complaint will allow the children to post bail.
apoles children o hristine and ames hristopher allegedly forged the signat res of ghost beneficiaries of the alampaya F nd and li idated doc ments in the scam.
Principal whistle- blower enh r y reportedly said that when apoles was not at their home at the Pacific Pla a ower in ag ig, it was o hristine who recei ed the f nds that were f nneled to bog s non-go ernment organi ations.
he yo ngest da ghter, eane, faces charges of ta e asion after she emerged as the owner of a pricey condomini m nit in os ngeles, alifornia altho gh she has no isible so rce of income.
eane, who is st dying in the US, will reportedly not be charged with pl nder since she is a mere recipient of the nit.
apoles has formally applied for imm nity in e change for her testimony, which e ima is still e al ating.
he ational rea of In estigation is erifying the
contents of a hard drive provided by the Napoles camp, listing lawmakers and other officials allegedly involved in the pork barrel and Malampaya und scams.
President A uino has said Napoles may be unfit to turn state witness since she did not appear to be the least guilty.
De Lima reiterated that she agreed to meet with Napoles on three conditions that the businesswoman would tell the entire unvarnished truth, that no conditions would be attached to the tell-all, and there would be no guarantee that the proffered testimony would be accepted.
Napoles has been charged with plunder before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the pork barrel and Malampaya scams.
De Lima said that instead of immunity, Napoles may negotiate to plead guilty to a lesser offense. A plunder conviction can send her to prison for life, or a maximum of 40 years.
Return to police camp deferred
esterday the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 deferred Napoles’ transfer from the Ospital ng Makati (Osmak) to her detention cell at ort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna after one of her doctors testified that she experienced a “significant amount” of vaginal bleeding following her surgery last month.
Napoles underwent surgery on April 23 to remove her uterus and two ovaries. She was supposed to be returned to the police camp last night.
But her gynecologist Efren Domingo testified in court yesterday that Napoles started bleeding on May 17 and was referred to him by the Osmak on May 1 .
The bleeding was so copious it soaked her jogging pants, Domingo told the court, adding that stress, diabetes and sleeplessness could have been the cause.
Sex caused bleeding?
Napoles was subjected to a digital pelvic examination by another gynecologist, Elsie Bandillo Pascua, on May 20 at Osmak.
Domingo ordered a complete bed rest for Napoles and gave her medicine to stop the bleeding. He also withdrew his order allowing Napoles to be discharged from the hospital.
When asked by Special Prosecutor Christopher arvida if there were other factors that might have triggered the bleeding, Domingo said “private intimate contact” though not necessarily sexual contact was possible.
“She is human and she has her urges,” said Domingo.
He said he did not ask if Napoles had sex while in confinement.
The bleeding stopped on May 21. Domingo said Napoles could be discharged after seven to 10 straight days without bleeding.
“I could order her discharged on May 28,” Domingo said.
Osmak director summoned
RTC Judge Elmo Alameda has summoned Osmak medical director Perry Peralta and gynecologist lorentina illanueva to appear in court on Monday in connection with Napoles’ re uest for a longer stay at the hospital.
The order was issued upon the motion of the prosecution.
Napoles’ lawyers also want all her postsurgery check-ups to be done at the Osmak.
Alameda had denied last Tuesday the urgent motion of Napoles for an extension of her hospital confinement.
The judge ordered the Philippine National Police to return Napoles to ort Sto. Domingo.
‘Not qualified as state witness’
Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. of Dasmari as City in Cavite said yesterday that Napoles would not ualify as a state witness and should not be given immunity from criminal prosecution.
Barzaga said Napoles, contrary to her claim, is the central figure and author of the pork barrel scam.
“Napoles and her agents were the ones who approached legislators and gave them cash advances, specifying to them which government agencies and corporations the Special Allotment Release Orders would be coursed through, and identifying the projects and their bogus foundations that would implement them,” Barzaga said.
“This profitable racket would not have flourished were it not for Ma’am Jenny, as she is called, her agents and her bogus foundations,” he said.
Barzaga, a practicing lawyer- accountant before seeking public office, has not given any part of his Priority Development Assistance und to Napoles or her bogus N Os.
On Thursday, Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III also said Napoles should not be spared from criminal prosecution.
“The Department of Justice should not accept her affidavit if it is conditioned on the grant of immunity or on any other privilege. She is in no position to set any condition for telling the nation how she perpetrated this multibillionpeso pork barrel scam,” Albano said.