Solicitor General Jose Calida (King Rodriguez/Presidential Photo)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The Office of the Solicitor General is seeking for the acquittal of Janet Lim-Napoles from the crime of serious illegal detention.
On January 11, the OSG submitted a “manifestation in lieu of a rejoinder” which recommends the acquittal of Napoles from serious illegal detention of whistleblower Benhur Luy.
Napoles was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in jail for detaining Luy from December 2012 to March 2013. Luy is a state witness against Napoles’ plunder case which also involves former senators Juan Ponce-Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla.
In its manifestation, the OSG said: “After examining and reviewing anew the evidence presented by both the prosecution and the defense, the OSG finds that the evidence presented does not support the conviction beyond reasonable doubt that appellant committed the crime of Serious Illegal Detention.”
In a press briefing Wednesday, Calida said they are performing their duty to ensure that “justice will be done without fear or favor.”
“We will not do justice if we will not right what is wrong. And in this case, injustice was done to Janet Napoles,” he said.
Calida clarified they did not file the manifestation for the purpose of acquitting Napoles.
“We filed the manifestation to let the CA know what is our opinion on the matter. It is up to the justices of the court of appeals to assess the weight of our pleading,” he said.
Not detained
The OSG said in its manifestation that Luy was not restrained or deprived liberty during the period of his alleged detention.
“There was no witness that will show that there was restraint of movement when (Luy) was in the retreat house,” said Calida.
He noted that Luy was able to see his family three times and that he did not tell any of his family members that he was being detained.
“Moreover, during the period of his alleged detention, Benhur Luy was able to see his family thrice; December 24, 2012 at the Heritage Memorial Park; and January 9, 2013 and February 23, 2013 at the Pacific Plaza Tower in Taguig City, and in none of these instances did he intimate to anyone of them that he was being detained or kidnapped by the appellant,” Calida said.
He also said Luy was able to go out of the retreat house on several occasions.
“He could have escaped right there and then. He never tried to leave the retreat house on his own. He could have done it, but did not,” Calida said.
‘No Duterte hand’
Calida also denied allegations that President Rodrigo Duterte has a hand in the OSG’s move to acquit Napoles.
“The president has nothing to do… I’m just doing my job here. The president does not, I repeat President Duterte does not instruct his cabinet members what to do,” he said.
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism published reports on the recent move to acquit Napoles from the case of Serious Illegal Detention.
The report interviewed legal experts and asked them whether the Duterte administration forged a “Modus Vivendi” with Napoles, and the possible reason or purpose.
One of the lawyers interviewed by PCIJ said: “The SolGen has taken positions before against the state, but often in minor cases, criminal and civil. This one is unusual because the SolGen has taken the side of the appellant, and against state witnesses in the pork barrel cases. This makes the SolGen manifestation significant. Most judges tend to favor the SolGen in cases like this one.”
The PCIJ also reported that the five lawyers have the common observation that the OSG’s manifestation “heralds a policy shift in how the Duterte administration wants to deal with Napoles, Luy, other state witnesses, and the lawmakers who had been indicted in the plunder cases involving the misuse of pork-barrel funds now pending trial before the Sandiganbayan.”
Criminal-coddler
Meanwhile, Senator Leila de Lima in a statement called the government a “criminal coddler.”
She said: “It looks like this administration is bent on taking the side of every high profile crook and scoundrel the past administration was able to jail. I cannot imagine what justification the OSG has come up with this time in order to sabotage the criminal conviction the DOJ has successfully secured in the past administration. “
“Release Napoles, the number one enabler of plunderers in government, and we might as well dissolve our justice system and declare this government a government of criminals, where the innocent are imprisoned and the criminals liberated. Maybe next they will be setting free the convicted drug lords who testified against me,” De Lima said. (davaotoday.com)
