MANILA, Philippines - The lawyer of Janet-Lim Napoles on Thursday questioned the apparent haste of Department of Justice in seeking her arrest in the case of serious illegal detention filed against her and her brother Reynald Lim which was previously dismissed by the DOJ and then later reversed after review.
On Wednesday afternoon, Judge Elmo Alameda of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 issued the warrants for the arrest of Napoles and Lim for the alleged illegal detention of the P10-billion pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy in December last year.
Napoles' lawyer Lorna Kapunan said she is puzzled why the DOJ did not wait for the scheduled hearing of their motion for the determination of probable cause filed with the Makati RTC Branch 150 before asking the court to issue the arrest warrants.
In filing the motion for the determination of probable cause, Kapunan said they are challenging the DOJ’s basis for the reversal of its previously dismissed case of illegal detention filed against Napoles and Lim.
The motion is supposed to be heard by Judge Alameda at 8:30 a.m. Friday. However, according to his office, the motion will no longer be heard as it is already considered as moot with the issuance of the arrest warrants.
“What is the evidence that compelled her (Justice Secretary Leila De Lima) to reverse herself?†asked Kapunan.
Kapunan said she did not expect her client to be arrested as the DOJ has yet to conduct a clarificatory hearing on the reversal of the case.
Kapunan also questioned the apparent haste by which the warrants of arrest were issued by the Makati court.
According to her, a special raffle was even conducted for the issuance of the warrants and that the warrants were issued after office hours.
Kapunan added that they were not furnished by the DOJ of a copy of its resolution reversing the previous dismissal of the illegal detention case.
Illegal detention under the Revised Penal Code is a non-bailable offense.
“Why the haste? This case would deprive a person of her constitutional right to liberty. The DOJ could have waited a day or two or after the court has heard our motion before asking for the arrest warrants,†said Kapunan.
Kapunan said the pieces of evidence, which include 17 sworn statements and a closed circuit television (CCTV) footage, were “strong enough†to have the case of illegal detention against Napoles and Lim previously dismissed by Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera. The dismissal was also affirmed by Navera following the NBI's motion for reconsideration.
Prosecutor General Claro Arellano later reversed upon review the dismissed case. On the basis of Arellano’s review resolution, the DOJ charged Napoles and Lim before the Makati RTC for allegedly keeping Luy against his will in Napoles’ condo unit at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig for several weeks last December.