Bloggers, netizens suspect Napoles' surrender staged

Filipino netizens were united in their cry to see businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles captured, but they've since turned skeptical about her surrender to President Benigno Aquino, Wednesday night. 

 

This turn of events has since split the community, garnering mixed opinions about what should happen to her now that she's in police custody.

 

Popular Filipino blogger Loi Landicho Reyes, more commonly known as The Professional Heckler, shed his usually funny self with a Twitter post that Napoles' surrender to the Aquino raised doubts on whether the entire event was staged to allay public outrage. 

 

"Hindi ito ang inasahang scenario ng publiko. You can't blame the public for being skeptic," he said.

 

Activist and comedian Mae Paner, also known as Juana Change, asked in a Facebook post if it was right for the President to have personally turned Napoles over to Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas and Philippine National Police Director-General Alan Purisima, after arriving at Malacañang.

 

"PNoy himself escorted a fugitive. Special? Tama ba yun? The Napoles teleserye is unfolding. Napoles is a crook, she should be treated in a humane way. But special? Hmmmm...," she said on her Facebook Timeline.

 

Actress Cynthia Patag meanwhile asked critics skeptical of Aquino’s actions not to craft conspiracy theories but rather be thankful that the alleged mastermind of the P10 billion pork barrel scam is no longer on the run.

 

"With the diligent initiatives from the Palace,” she stated, “they were able to negotiate the surrender of Napoles a few hours after Napoles lawyer made remarks on media that Napoles is willing to surrender as long as her safety is assured.”

 

Patag also pleaded: “We will lose our opportunity to prosecute and imprison all guilty pork scam lawmakers if every action the government executes on Napoles is subject to noisy theoretical criticisms and grandstanding speculations. Let the 'hunt for the truth' begin following the surrender and detention of Janet Napoles. Stop the noise please." 

 

'Unwise' decision

Ordinary citizens were just as divided whether they should believe the Palace’s statement that Napoles turned herself in voluntarily or whether her surrender at Malacañang was staged.

 

On GMA News’ Facebook page, Ymmas Felix Directo made a list of headlines that might be used by news organizations in the days following Napoles’ surrender:

 

“Ang mga susunod na headlines ukol sa Pork Barrel Queen:
 

- Janet Napoles, nahuli na, currently detained in Camp Crame

- Janet Napoles nagka-mild stroke

- Janet Napoles, sinugod sa St. Luke’s

- Janet Napoles, umattend ng hearing na naka-wheelchair

- Janet napoles pinahintulutang magpagamot abroad

- Janet Napoles naglaho na

- Janet Napoles limot na ng madla
 

Abangan natin kung totoo ang sabi ng mga tala!”

 

Jordan Alviar, meanwhile, urged netizens to look positively at Napoles’ surrender and see it as an opportunity for her to blow the lid on other lawmakers who benefited from the scam.

 

“Sa dami ng pera [nya] eh pwede na siyang magtago na lang hanggang sa mamatay na lang sya pero anong pinili nya? Ang sumuko. Ang mawalan ng kalayaan. Ang kumanta. Hindi ba’t dapat matuwa dahil maaari niyang ituro ang mga senador at mga kongresista na sangkot sa anomalya?” he said.

 

In a statement posted online, the Center for International Law (Centerlaw) and Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) said that Aquino’s decision to allow Napoles to surrender to him may have been “unwise” although it was legal.

 

“Certainly, Napoles could have surrendered herself to any SPO1 or to the nearest police station. She did not have to surrender to the President himself. The fact that the President allowed her to surrender to him may send a message that administrative allies may be spared from the ongoing investigation of irregularities on the spending of the PDAF,” the groups said.

 

“The fact that she surrendered to the President may be viewed by the people as a signal that she wil only implicate those in the opposition,” activist lawyer Harry Roque added.

 

Napoles has been detained at the Makati City Jail since Thursday, after initially staying at Camp Crame following her surrender in Malacañang. On Friday, a Makati court approved her transfer to Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna from the city jail for “safety reasons.”

 

Interior secretary Mar Roxas said Saturday, however, that the businesswoman will not be transferred to Laguna within the day because authorities still have to make “security enhancements” to the bungalow-type structure where she will be detained.

 

#MillionPeopleMarch

Public indignation about the widespread corruption surrounding the misuse of the pork barrel funds--also known as the Priority Development Assistance Fund--reached a tipping point Monday when several thousand Filipinos flocked to Luneta for a protest called the #MillionPeopleMarch.

 

The peaceful rally, which saw Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle as well as some local celebrities joining the protesters in voicing their call for the abolition of pork barrel, started from a Facebook post by music executive Ito Bretania. It was subsequently shared by Peachy Rallonza-Bretaña, who set the date for the march.

 

Various Filipinos abroad also showed their support for the march by holding their own picnic protests in front of Philippine consulates and taking “selfies” with anti-pork slogans. — KDM, GMA News