Citizen's arrest for Napoles urged as manhunt widens

Ordinary citizens were urged to arrest fugitive siblings Janet Lim-Napoles and Reynald Lim, both accused of illegally detaining a whistleblower in the P10-billion pork barrel scam, as the government appealed for the public's help in tracking down the fugitives.

"Actually, puwede ang citizen's arrest sa mga ganyan because this is imbued with deep public interest," Justice Secretary Leila de Lima told reporters after emerging from a meeting with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which is conducting the manhunt for the two.

Malacañang has also appealed to the public to help authorities track down Napoles.

"We encourage the public to inform us kung meron silang information tungkol sa whereabouts ni Ms. Napoles," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said at a press briefing in Malacañang, but stopped short of echoing de Lima's call for civilians to apprehend the suspected pork barrel scammer.

Napoles and Lim have been accused of illegally detaining Benhur Luy, an employee of Napoles' JLN Corp. Luy later turned whistleblower and linked Napoles to anomalies involving the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), or pork barrel, of several lawmakers.

The company of Napoles was alleged to have been tapped as a conduit for funds for what have turned out to be government ghost projects, pegged in some reports as totalling P10 billion, much of which purportedly found its way back to lawmakers as kickbacks.

NBI contact numbers

De Lima said people who obtain information regarding the siblings's whereabouts may call the NBI Operations Center at landline number 524-1141 and mobile phone numbers 0917-5838612 and 0929-295-8888.

While De Lima said the Napoles siblings may be arrested even by private citizens and cites that the case is "imbued with deep public interest," the Rules of Criminal Procedure of the Rules of Court provides for only three specific sets of situations for when a citizen's arrest may be made:

The second (b) situation seems to be the best justification for de Lima's call, although Napoles' lawyers could argue that no "offense" had just been committed, thus there is no basis for the arrest. By that time, however, the private citizen should already have turned over Napoles to authorities, who have to fend off charges that the suspect was illegally arrested.

30 vehicles

De Lima also handed to media copies of a list of some 30 vehicles that she said Napoles and Lim could use to move around. The list came with the description of the vehicles, including their color as well as their plate numbers.

"Mukhang mobile sila at pabalik-balik sa NCR [National Capital Region]," she said.

De Lima also showed photographs of both Napoles and Lim, which would be posted in public places, along with the list of the vehicles.

A Makati court on Wednesday ordered the arrest of Napoles and Lim, but the NBI, which was supposed to serve the arrest warrants, failed to locate them.

Twelve teams have been formed to conduct a manhunt, even as regional and field offices of the NBI have been alerted.

"May mga reported sighthings ng mga sasakyan, apparently mga sasakyan nila pero hindi na-validate. So they continue to search. There's actually no letup. That's the instruction to them. It's a massive search," De Lima said.

"Nanawagan kami sa publiko, tulungan ninyo po kami maghanap kay Mrs. Napoles. High profile fugitive po sya. Alam naman nyo po kung gaano ang kaso na hinaharap nya," she said.

De Lima also warned individuals who would protect the two, saying they could be charged with obstruction of justice. — KBK/ELR/HS, GMA News