CA acquits Napoles in serious illegal detention case

The Court of Appeals (CA) has reversed the conviction of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Napoles in the serious illegal detention case involving her former aide and relative Benhur Luy.

In a decision dated May 5, the CA Twelfth Division granted Napoles' appeal, resulting in the junking of the April 2015 ruling of the Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 150.

In its decision acquitting Napoles, the CA said the prosecution has not discharged its burden of proof in establishing the commission of the crime charged and in identifying Napoles as the "malefactor responsible" for it.

The CA backed Napoles' claims, noting there was enough evidence to establish that Luy had sought spiritual retreat at the Bahay ni San Jose in Magallanes Village, Makati City.

“Benhur attended mass every night with the priests residing in Bahay ni San Jose. He also maintained a journal covering the period of his stay in Bahay ni San Jose which contained biblical verses and references,” the decision stated.

“Taken together, Benhur’s actuations are contrary to that of a person forced to stay with a religious order but are more consistent with the conclusion that he was seeking, and enjoying, too, religious retreat,” it added.

Napoles and her brother, Reynald "Jojo" Lim, were accused of detaining Luy from December 20, 2012 to March 22, 2013 to prevent him from disclosing the businesswoman’s racket of siphoning off PDAF allocations through ghost projects.

The businesswoman had denied detaining Luy, claiming her estranged personal assistant went on a spiritual retreat in exchange for the non-filing of cases against him for allegedly stealing P300,000 and obtaining loans worth more than P5 million without her consent.

Never attempted escape

The appellate court said Luy never attempted to escape and mentioned anything to his family about being detained forcefully. Neither did Luy call for help “in the different occasions when he went out of Bahay ni San Jose," the CA said.

“To our mind, it is completely baffling and unexplainable how a man who alleges illegal detention had no sense of urgency to escape or seek help, at least during the later part of his alleged detention, despite the grave offense committed against him,” the CA said.

Luy was rescued by the National Bureau of Investigation from Napoles' unit on March 22, 2013 at the Pacific Plaza Condominium but the CA said the pork barrel scam whistleblower's action of violently resisting the rescue “negates his allegation that he was detained against his will."

The CA said the NBI agents were accompanied by his brother Arthur.

“His actuation shows a cloud in his claim that he was a victim of serious illegal detention. A person who had been deprived of his liberty for three months would not hesitate or resist getting rescued by the proper government authorities such as the NBI or even utter the words to the effect that he was not illegally detained,” the decision stated.

Luy had also failed to prove there was conspiracy between Napoles and Lim to detain Luy.

"No proof was adduced by the prosecution to show any agreement, expressed or otherwise, between Napoles and Jojo," the ruling stated.

Lim to benefit

Napoles had been sentenced to reclusion perpetua, or 20 years and one day up to 40 years in jail, while Lim remains at large and was never arraigned. She would remain in detention because she has pending plunder and graft cases before the Sandiganbayan in relation to the pork barrel scam, or the alleged systematic misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of lawmakers.

Lim, meanwhile, is set to benefit from the CA ruling.

"While this case only involved the accused-appellant (Napoles) as the case against Jojo was archived by the lower court, any further proceedings to try Jojo criminally based on the same factual circumstances may have been rendered moot and academic, if not inutile, by this decision," the CA said.

The decision was penned by CA Associate Justice Normandie Pizarro and was concurred in by Justices Samuel Gaerlan and Jhosep Lopez.

Saddened by the decision

Luy's camp said they were "saddened" by the appellate court's decision.

"We are saddened by this recent development. We have yet to receive the official copy of the decision. Moving forward, we are examining our options," said Luy's legal counsel Raji Mendoza in a text message.

Napoles' appeal was backed by the Office of the Solicitor General, which filed in January a "manifestation in lieu of rejoinder" recommending the controversial businesswoman's acquittal for serious illegal detention of Luy, her cousin.

Despite his position to move for Napoles' acquittal, Solicitor General Jose Calida said the government did not enter a deal with Napoles.  —KBK, GMA News