By Charlie V. Manalo
The Daily Tribune
The Daily Tribune
House members who are mostly allies of President Aquino have expressed support to clamor, particularly in social media sites, for the transfer of alleged pork barrel scam brains Janet Lim-Napoles to a regular jail and have her shoulder her own expenses for medical examination and treatment.
According to Representatives Rudy Fariñas (Ilocos Norte), Sherwin Tugna (CIBAC Partylist), Ben Evardone (Eastern Samar), Elpidio Barzaga (Cavite) and Silvestre Bello (1-BAP), it’s time for the government to stop the seemingly VIP (very important person) treatment accorded to Napoles and have her transferred from Fort Sto. Domingo in Laguna where she is currently detained to a regular jail where she will join regular inmates.
“She should!” Fariñas said when asked if he believes Napoles should be transferred to a regular detention cell. “The authorities should explain why she is being treated unlike all other detention prisoners. Every inmate is a security concern. She claims innocence on all allegations against her. So where is the threat coming from?,” Fariñas stressed.
In case there is a negotiation with her to turn state witness so that she could avail of the government’s Witness Protection Program (WPP), Fariñas said the concerned authorities should immediately decide whether she could qualify under the program.
“The authorities should decide immediately whether or not she will be a state witness. If so, put her under WPP, if not, she should be detained with all other persons denied bail during the trial of their cases. She’s neither here nor there, like in limbo,” said the Ilocos Norte solon.
For his part, Tugna said that while he supports the call to transfer Napoles to a regular jail, he said she should still be accorded additional security.
“The concern of the government should be to secure her while detained in a regular jail since she still holds key information about the PDAF (priority development assistance fund) scam,” Tugna said.
Evardone also expressed support to calls for a regular detention cell for the alleged pork barrel scam queen but added it would have to depend on the decision of the court.
“I believe she should be sent to a regular jail but then, it all depends on the decision of the court,” Evardone said.
Bello also questioned the government’s need to spend for Napoles medical examinations when she reportedly has more than enough money to spend for her own medical expenses.
“Why should our government spend for an accused? Beside Ms. Napoles can afford to pay for her own medical needs,” Bello said.
According to reports, the government spent no less than P123,000 the other day for Napoles’ medical examination conducted at Camp Crame.
Barzaga said Napoles should not be given any special treatment and should be treated like any other person accused of a wrongdoing.
“Napoles should be treated as an ordinary accused and therefore, should not be given special accommodations nor it would be legally or morally right for the government to incur additional expenses during her detention,” Barzaga said.
“Besides, the alleged threat to her life has already disappeared and therefore she should be treated as an ordinary accused,” he stressed.
No comments:
Post a Comment