SC junks Napoles’ bid for temporary freedom amid pandemic

The Supreme Court (SC) has junked the plea of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Napoles to be released from detention on humanitarian grounds amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Court’s Second Division dismissed her motion for recognizance/bail or house arrest last January 13, according to the resolution which the high tribunal released recently.

In her appeal, Napoles claimed that she was at risk of contracting COVID-19 inside the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City because she is allegedly suffering from diabetes. 

She also said there were “compelling reasons” to support her acquittal from plunder and cited the international community’s call for temporary release of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) due to the threat of the coronavirus.

Writing for the Court, Associate Justice Mario Lopez said Napoles must not be granted temporary liberty considering that she was found guilty of plunder, a capital offense, in the pork barrel scam case involving Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. in 2018. 

“The presumption of innocence and the constitutional right to bail end after the accused's conviction of a capital offense,” the SC said in its resolution.

“Accordingly, Napoles' motion for bail pending the appeal of her conviction must be denied," it added.

Napoles submitted to the Court an unauthenticated medical certificate signed by her physician stating that she has diabetes and hypertension. 

But even assuming that Napoles is indeed suffering from diabetes, “that, in itself, is not sufficient to grant her provisional liberty, post-conviction,” the Court said. 

“Napoles' allegation is a question of fact which is not within the province of this Court to determine. Neither can the Court take judicial notice of her medical condition,” it added. 

The SC also said neither the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the Bureau of Corrections Act of 2013, nor the global trend to decongest jail facilities due to COVID-19, support the release of PDLs pending the appeal of their conviction of a capital offense.  

“Aside from her conviction of plunder which necessarily imports that the evidence of her guilt is strong, Napoles failed to establish that there are exceptional and compelling considerations for her temporary 
release,” the SC said. 

“Be it noted that the constitutional and statutory requisites for the grant of bail are neither suspended nor supplanted by the existence of a pandemic," the court added.

Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas Bernabe, then Associate Justice and now Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, and Justices Amy Lazaro Javier and Ricardo Rosario concurred in the resolution. —KG, GMA News