A cemetery meeting with a fugitive: How Napoles surrendered to govt

Wednesday, August 28, 2013, was a day that could be described as news-heavy.

On that day, President Benigno Aquino III offered a P10-million bounty for Janet Lim-Napoles, the businesswoman at the center of the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam; Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno held her first ever media briefing in a year; and the peso fell to its three-year low against the US dollar.

However, late Wednesday night, just as when everybody was settling down and calling it a day, major news broke out from Malacañang.

Napoles, after being the subject of manhunt operations for days in connection with a serious illegal detention case, has surrendered, and to no less than Aquino himself.

At a press conference in Malacañang on Thursday, Lacierda said it all began when Aquino announced the bounty before 11 a.m.

TV crawler

Lacierda said after this announcement, he saw a crawler on cable channel ANC quoting Napoles's lawyer Lorna Kapunan as saying that her client was willing to surrender.

At around 12:37 p.m., he said he called Kapunan to discuss what she had seen on television.

"I verified with her: 'Can I verify if this is true? If you’re serious that you want your client to surrender?' Sabi niya: ‘Seryoso siya,’" Lacierda told reporters.

Lacierda continued that when he asked Kapunan if she has direct communications with Napoles, the lawyer said, “I have no direct communications but I have a way to my client.”

"So I said: 'So what do you want? So you want to surrender?' And she said at that point: 'We would like to surrender. If at all, let me confirm with my client that we would like to surrender to the President.' Why the President? 'Because [he’s] the person that we trust'," Lacierda said, recalling his conversation with Kapunan.

Lacierda said he immediately discussed the matter with Aquino after the Apolinario Mabini Awards, which was held at the Palace at 1:30 p.m. and was attended by the President.

"I went up to him and informed the President about the developments and he just told me: 'Ang dami nating leads, there were leads of this and that, so this is just another lead.' So sabi niya: 'Pag bumalik na siya, let me know.' So, okay, sir. So we’ll let you know," he said.

Safety concerns

At around 4:06 p.m., Lacierda said Kapunan called him and said Napoles was willing to surrender to Aquino. He said their only request was that Napoles's safety be secured because of alleged threats to her life.  

He said he asked Kapunan if Napoles was in Metro Manila, to which the lawyer reportedly said: “As far as I know, yes.”

When he relayed this to Aquino, Lacierda said the President instructed Interior Secretary Mar Roxas to turn her over to the department or the Philippine National Police as soon as she surrenders. He said Roxas called up PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima and other police officials to help prepare the facility where Napoles will be held.
 
After this, Lacierda said he coordinated with Kapunan on how they will arrange the meeting.

"She obviously was, in my sense, she was not in direct contact with Ms. Napoles. So she was talking through a conduit. So we were going back and forth on where to meet, where to meet," he said.

Makati meeting

Eventually, he said Kapunan told him to meet in the vicinity of Pasong Tamo (now Chino Roces Avenue) in Makati City.

"Upon informing Secretary Mar Roxas, he provided a vehicle for me and also the escorts to secure Ms. Napoles. Because we don’t know exactly what time [that] was or how long it will take," he said.

To pass time, he said he asked deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte and Undersecretary Manolo Quezon to have dinner with him first in the same area.  He said they left the National Executive Building at around 6:50 p.m.

On the way to Makati, he said Kapunan called him and said to meet her at the multipurpose exhibition Whitespace.

"When I reached Whitespace, I saw Lorna and…together with Lorna in a vehicle was Mr. Jimmy Napoles. So nagkita si Lorna and Jimmy Napoles, they boarded the vehicle where I was," he said.

Jimmy, Napoles's husband, was wearing pants and a green collared shirt while Kapunan was wearing a brown pants suit, Lacierda said.

Destination Heritage Park

After boarding, Lacierda said he asked Mr. Napoles where they should go and he was told to go to Heritage Park, a cemetery in Taguig.

"At that point, I was informing the President of the status. I was informing [him] where I was. The President was also concerned for the situation," he said, adding that he didn't even know why they were going to a cemetery.

Valte, who was in the same vehicle as Quezon and Mr. Napoles, said they did not pay much attention to their destination.

Lacierda said they reached Heritage Park at around 8:06 p.m. and waited until 9:08 p.m. when they saw two women near a mausoleum.
 
Valte and Lacierda said they didn't recognize them at first but that eventually they realized it was Napoles and another woman.
 
"Sila na pala yung dalawang babae na nasa labas ng sasakyan. So 'yung isang babae si Ms. Napoles, 'yung isang babae 'yung kanyang kasambahay. I don’t know kung kamag-anak or—dala yung mga gamit ni Mrs. Napoles," said Lacierda.

Napoles was wearing black pants and a gray and black hoodie.

On the way back, he said he chatted with Napoles but not about the pork barrel scam.

"She talked about her past. Apparently I didn’t realize that she is part Chinese. So we asked about her ano iyong Chinese siya. So we talked a bit about Chinese, nag-usap kami," he said.

JLN in Malacañang

Lacierda said they got back to Malacañang with Napoles at around 9:37 p.m., the time they said in their statement Napoles surrendered to Aquino.  He said the Napoles couple were frisked and checked by the doctor, after which they talked to Aquino for a bit at the Palace's receiving area.

But he said Napoles rarely spoke, with Kapunan doing all the talking.

Lacierda said also present were Valte, Roxas, Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, Secretary Ricky Carandang, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., and Purisima.

Lacierda said they only talked about he request for ample security in light of alleged threats to Napoles's safety. He said Aquino instructed Roxas and Purisima to ensure her safety.

"Madali lang...more or less mga 10 minutes yata yon. Si Atty. Lorna Kapunan nagsasalita, nagpapasalamat na the President agreed... for Janet Napoles to voluntarily surrender to the President," he said.

To Camp Crame with PNoy

However, just as Napoles was about to be taken to Camp Crame in Quezon City, he said Aquino decided to go with them.

"Sabi ni Pangulong Aquino: O, tutal puyat na tayo, damay-damay na tayo,” he said.

Lacierda said Aquino went ahead while he and the Napoles couple were in a convoy with Roxas, Almendras, and Carandang.

He said Aquino wanted to make sure that the place was secure so he went to inspect the premises himself, after which he went  home.

Upon arriving at Camp Crame, Napoles underwent the usual booking procedure, Lacierda said.

"It wasn’t easy. We didn’t even know. I didn’t even know whether it was going to push through," he said.

Napoles spent the night in a vacant office in Camp Crame.

"Now, that she has been secured, she has been detained, the case should move forward," said Lacierda. — KBK, GMA News