THE government’s top lawyer has asked the Court of Appeals to reverse the decision of a Makati court that convicted Janet Lim Napoles, the suspected mastermind of the pork barrel scam, of serious illegal detention of whistleblower Benhur Luy.
The Solicitor General Jose Calida on Wednesday defended his decision to file a manifestation with the appellate court last month seeking the acquittal of Napoles who sentenced to 40 years in jail by Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda in 2015 after she was found guilty of serious illegal detention.
Calida said he was convinced after reviewing the merits of the case against Napoles that Alameda erred in convicting her.
“I reviewed it personally and I was convinced the decision was wrong. The RTC erred in convicting the accused Janet Napoles for the crime of serious illegal detention. When we look at the evidence, the transcript of records, there are many instances that will support the acquittal of the accused,” Calida said in a press conference.
“We did not file our manifestation for the purpose of acquitting the person. It is just to let the Court of Appeals know what our opinion is on the matter. It is up to the justices of the CA to assess the weight of our pleading and modesty aside, the OSG is considered as the 16th justice of the Supreme Court because we are partners with the judiciary,” Calida added.
Calida said as a “defender of the republic and at the same time as tribune of the people,” it is his duty to see to it that justice is served to everybody, notwithstanding the personalities involved in the case.
He said among the pieces of evidence that he said convinced the OSG of Napoles’ innocence in the case was the fact that Luy was not restrained and was even able to see his family three times during his supposed captivity.
Luy, who was employed in Napoles’s JLN Group of Companies, claimed he was detained by Napoles and her brother, Reynaldo “Jojo” Lim at the Bahay ni San Jose, a Catholic retreat house in Magallanes Village, Makati City, occupied by priests, and then at the Pacific Plaza Towers in Taguig City, where the Napoles family resides.
The chief state lawyer also noted that Luy resisted and even shouted to his brother that he had not been kidnapped when National Bureau of Investigation agents rescued him at Napoles’residence in Taguig on March 2013.
“So you can see the conduct and behavior of Luy during that time belie his claim that he was being detained against his will,” Calida said,
He stressed that as an agent of law, he is duty-bound to state the facts of the case and “not send an innocent person to the gallows.”
While Calida said his interest is to see to it that justice is served, he also clarified that President Rodrigo Duterte had nothing to do with his actions on the case.
“Where did they get that idea? The President has nothing to do with this. I’m just doing my job and President Duterte does not instruct his Cabinet members on what to do. We are talking here about the rule of law and my mandate is to see to it that justice is done,” Calida said, adding that those who link the action of his office to an alleged deal with Napoles have “a fertile imagination.”
Nonetheless, Calida said that it would not affect the pork barrel scam cases filed against Napoles and government officials, including lawmakers, since the two are different cases.
“This serious illegal detention has nothing to do with the cases of Janet Lim Napoles on the pork barrel. These are two separate matters,” he said.
Calida also said his move was not influenced by the lawyers of Napoles, who are supporters of Duterte.
“They have fertile minds,” he said of those linking his action to the President. “It is fiction and they are inventing something which is unfair.”
In a piece circulated this week, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism said it spoke to five legal experts inside and outside the government about the solicitor-general’s action and its impact on the pork barrel cases against her.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, they agreed that while it may not have a direct impact on the pork-barrel cases pending before the Sandiganbayan, questions might be raised about the integrity of Luy’s testimonies in the illegal detention case, and against Napoles.
“The question of common concern to the five lawyers interviewed by PCIJ is this: Has the Duterte administration forged a modus vivendi with Janet Lim Napoles, and for what reasons and purposes?
“The five lawyers are also unanimous about one thing: They say the OSG’s manifestation heralds a policy shift in how the Duterte administration wants to deal with Napoles, Luy, other state witnesses, and the lawmakers who had been indicted in the plunder cases involving the misuse of pork-barrel funds now pending trial before the Sandiganbayan,” the PCIJ said.
PCIJ quoted one of the lawyers as saying: “The SolGen has taken positions before against the state, but often in minor cases, criminal and civil. This one is unusual because the SolGen has taken the side of the appellant, and against state witnesses in the pork barrel cases. This makes the SolGen manifestation significant. Most judges tend to favor the SolGen in cases like this one.”
Senior officials of the Ombudsman, the Supreme Court and the Office of the Executive Secretary expressed surprise about the OSG manifestation, and described the move as “dangerous,” “alarming” and “shocking,” the PCIJ said.
Duterte’s chief legal counsel defended the Office of the Solicitor General’s move to recommend the acquittal of Napoles on the serious detention charge.
“What the OSG is saying is that the evidence presented by Benhur Luy does not warrant an arrest for Napoles. You have to get strong evidence to get a conviction. In this case, the OSG sees that there is no evidence,” Panelo told Palace reporters in a phone interview.
“Our position is if the OSG is the office that studied the case and it’s his office that recommended the acquittal, then we have to abide by its position unless independent entities can show us that the position is contrary to evidence and contrary to the records of the case. But I doubt it is contrary because the OSG is doing its job,” he added.
On Wednesday, the OSG said it remains unconvinced that Napoles was guilty of illegally detaining Benhur Luy, who turned state witness to testify against Napoles in the congressional inquiry into the pork barrel scam.
Luy, a cousin of Napoles, was her longtime assistant before he eventually became the principal witness in the plunder complaint filed against her.
Asked if Duterte relayed any instructions to the OSG regarding Napoles’ case, Panelo said to his knowledge, there was no such instruction from the Chief Executive.
“The President does not give any instruction to any department, he has repeatedly said that. He leaves departments alone. He will only come in when there is a complaint,” he said.
In the same interview, Panelo hinted that the government may use the testimonies of Napoles in other pork barrel cases, should she get a favorable decision in her illegal detention case from the appellate court.
“Why not? If she reveals things that were not revealed before, then cases can be filed against those whom she has implicated,” he said.