NAPOLES GETS LIFE IN JAIL FOR ILLEGAL DETENTION

By Brian Maglungsod

MANILA – Detained businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, tagged by her accusers as the brains behind the so-called “pork barrel scam”, has been sentenced to reclusion perpetua or 40 years’ imprisonment by the Makati City Regional Trial Court (RTC) for having illegally detained her cousin Benhur Luy, the government’s main witness in the scam.

Besides imposing the penalty of a 40-year jail term for the serious illegal detention charges, Makati City RTC Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda ordered Napoles to pay P50,000 in civil damages and P50,000 in moral damages.

The court said the prosecution provided strong evidence proving that Napoles and her brother Reynald Luy Lim detained Luy against his will between December 2012 to March 2013, until he was rescued by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents.

Luy claimed he was detained by the siblings to prevent him from revealing the anomalies allegedly perpetrated by Napoles in the misuse of the pork barrel allocation of lawmakers.

For over a decade, Luy admitted, he had been Napoles’ trusted right-hand man in the operations, but they supposedly had a falling out when she suspected him of setting up parallel operations using the same contacts in both houses of Congress and certain agencies.

Luy has since become the government’s main whistle-blower in the pork barrel scam cases, implicating three senators—Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada—and dozens of other incumbent and former state agency officials.

Reynald remains the subject of a manhunt operation by the authorities and was never arraigned for the charges.

Despite the guilty verdict, Napoles’ camp remained unfazed, with her legal counsel saying they would immediately appeal the Makati RTC ruling before the Court of Appeals (CA).

Atty. Bruce Rivera said the Makati RTC apparently failed to appreciate the evidence they have presented, adding that they are confident the higher courts would see these and reverse the RTC’s decision.

“We will definitely appeal, since there are several points in the RTC decision that we do not agree with. There are many things there that for me are questionable,” Rivera said.

The lawyer said Napoles did not, to a certain degree, appear surprised by the guilty verdict, considering the public backlash generated by the pork barrel scam.

“She said it’s okay, maybe she also expected it because of the backlash,” he said, adding that Napoles insisted on her innocence of the crime imputed to her.

The prosecution was able to establish that “on December 19, 2012, accused Janet ordered the detention of Benhur when she discovered the existence of separate business transactions entered into by Benhur involving the PDAF of certain legislators, which resulted in the decline of her income.”

Part of the court record also stated that “… Her expletives on Benhur and order to Jojo and her security personnel to detain him were clear and unambiguous.”

The court ruled that Benhur Luy “… is entitled to the award of civil indemnity in the amount of Php 50,000.00 and moral damages in the amount of Php50,000.00.”

Napoles’ lawyers remarked that they were surprised that the ruling included the award of civil indemnity.

For her part, Luy’s mother, Gertrudes, expressed gladness at the decision and outcome of the trial.

In the meantime, it’s back to the BJMP detention cell for Napoles, until the Judge Alameda issues her commitment order.

(Photo caption: Alleged pork barrel scam brains Janet Lim Napoles listens as the court hands down its verdict on the serious illegal detention case filed against her by her estranged cousin and former chief aide Benhur Luy. The Makati court sentenced her to life imprisonment. Photo by Jamin Verde, InterAksyon.com)