Napoles partially admitted to Witness Protection Program

The camp of alleged pork barrel fund scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles has urged the Sandiganbayan to transfer her custody to the Witness Protection Program (WPP) of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

In a three-page urgent motion received by the Sandiganbayan on Friday, Napoles’ lawyers said she should be transferred from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Camp Bagong Diwa to the DOJ following her provisional admission to the WPP.

Her camp attached a DOJ certification, signed by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Ma. Nerissa Molina-Carpio, which states that Napoles “has been provisionally covered by the Witness Protection Security and Benefit Program effective February 27, 2018."

Napoles attached the DOJ certification in her urgent motion for the Sandiganbayan to allow transfer of her custody from Camp Bagong Diwa to WPP @gmanews pic.twitter.com/mZD3kyBMjR

— TJ Roxas (@tj_roxas) March 16, 2018

Napoles also appealed to the Sandiganbayan to grant her motion after receiving harassment and death threats.

"There were recorded incidents of harassments, intimidation and threats on her life and security, which could be avoided if the DOJ-WPP would be allowed to perform its mandate to protect accused-movant, as a covered witness," the motion read.

The motion will be heard at the First, Third, and Fifth Divisions on Monday.

In a statement, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said the provisional admission of Napoles to the WPP "has no effect on the cases under trial in court."

DOJ confirmation

DOJ Undersecretary Erickson Balmes confirmed that Napoles has been partially admitted to the WPP, but said Napoles is not yet in the physical custody of the WWP "due to the provisional status of the admission."

"If requested by subject we can provide additional security and as warranted, address medical needs," Balmes said in a message to reporters.

Balmes said Napoles executed an affidavit whose merit is currently under assessment, but added that the contents of her provisional admission to the WWP are confidential.

He cited Section 3 of the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act, which states that the DOJ will issue the proper certification after the witness' execution of a sworn statement.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II also confirmed this development but offered no new detail.

Attorney Stephen David earlier said his client is open to becoming a state witness in multi-billion-peso scheme after the Court of Appeals reversed the conviction of Napoles in her serious illegal detention case. 

But Morales blocked the proposal since Napoles is "one of the principal alleged malefactors" in the scam.

Morales said it is also up to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to determine and seek court approval on the admission of Napoles to the WPP.

"It is the OSP which will consider whether or not she will be a state witness. And it's going to be the court who will finally approve whether or not she is going to be a state witness," Morales said in an interview last year.

However, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said his agency may exercise its "exclusive right" to put Napoles under the WPP if needed.

Aguirre further said Napoles would only be a state witness in new criminal cases on the pork barrel fund scam and not on those where she is already facing prosecution at the Sandiganbayan.

Napoles is facing five counts of the non-bailable offense of plunder and numerous graft charges across six of the seven divisions of the Sandiganbayan. —With a report from Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/KG/RSJ, GMA News