SC junks Napoles plea for temporary liberty

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THE Supreme Court has rejected the plea of convicted businesswoman and alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles to be temporarily released from detention on humanitarian grounds amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a resolution dated January 13 but released to the media only yesterday, the SC Second Division ruled that Napoles “failed to establish that there are exceptional and compelling considerations for her temporary release. 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.”

“For these reasons, accused-appellant Janet Lim Napoles’ urgent motion for recognizance, bail or house arrest for humanitarian reasons due to COVID-19, is denied,” the SC said.

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In her plea, Napoles claimed she was at risk of contracting the deadly virus inside the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City where she is serving the life sentence imposed by the Sandiganbayan in 2018 for her role in the pork barrel scam case involving Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.

Napoles also cited the international community’s call for governments to temporarily release inmates who are vulnerable to be infected with COVID-19.

But the SC decision penned by Associate Justice Mario Lopez said she cannot be granted temporary liberty since she was found guilty of plunder, which is a capital offense.

“The presumption of innocence and the constitutional right to bail end after the accused’s conviction of a capital offense. Accordingly, Napoles’ motion for bail pending the appeal of her conviction must be denied,” the SC said.

As to the humanitarian grounds cited by Napoles, the high court refused to apply the Enrile ruling where it allowed temporary freedom to former senator Juan Ponce Enrile.

The SC also noted that Napoles presented an unauthenticated medical certificate saying she has diabetes.

Likewise, the court rejected her invocation of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, or more popularly known as the Nelson Mandela Rules, on the treatment of prisoners and denied her plea for recognizance.

“Neither the Nelson Mandela Rules, the Bureau of Corrections Act of 2013, nor the worldwide trend to decongest jail facilities due to COVID-19, support the release of persons deprived of liberty pending the appeal of their conviction of a capital offense. Thus, Napoles failed to allege, much less prove, any source of right under international or domestic laws, to warrant her temporary release,” it added.

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