The Sandiganbayan Third Division has denied the request of Janet Lim-Napoles to be transferred to a safehouse of the Department of Justice's Witness Protection Program from a regular jail in Taguig City.
The court said the DOJ-WPP's implementing rules prohibits the transfer of a detainee who is already under the jurisdiction of a court.
However, the court agreed with the stand of newly-appointed Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who said that provisional coverage does not give Napoles the privilege of staying with the DoJ.
“Significantly, in his manifestation in lieu of comment, DoJ Secretary Guevarra expressly states that the provisional coverage of accused Napoles under the WPP does not confer upon her an actionable right to demand detention or custody under the said program, and that the fact that she is under detention pursuant to a process by the Court, would be taken into consideration in the final resolution of accused Napoles’s application for coverage under the WPP,” the court said in its resolution dated May 3.
The anti-graft court also asserted jurisdiction over Napoles and said it may only lose her if she were declared a state witness in her pending case.
There is also no valid reason for Napoles to be transferred to the DoJ for fear of her security after a surprise raid of the BJMP, which turned out to be legitimate inspection, the court said.
“However, in her comment on the subject motion, the said warden, on behalf of the BJMP, assured the court that they shall continue to fulfill their responsibility over accused Napoles should the court deny the subject motion,” the court said.
The anti-graft court's resolution came after the court's First and Divisions which handle the two other non-bailable plunder cases of Napoles made a similar ruling.
Napoles is currently detained at the facility of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City. She filed motions to move out of jail before the three divisions of the Sandiganbayan handling her plunder charges following the move then of resigned Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to have her accommodated to the WPP.