No immediate CA action on Janet’s bail plea

MANILA, Philippines - Suspected pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles will have to remain in detention as the Court of Appeals has held off deciding on her request for the voiding of a lower court’s rejection of her plea for bail.

In a two-page resolution, the special seventh division of the appellate court did not rule on Napoles’ petition for injunction against the Makati City regional trial court’s dismissal of her motion to post bail.

Napoles is detained at the Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna for the non-bailable offense of serious illegal detention filed by main pork barrel scam whistle-blower Benhur Luy.

She is also facing plunder, also a non-bailable offense, for her role in the embezzling of lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the official name of the pork barrel fund.

The CA instead opted to first seek comment from respondents RTC Judge Elmo Alameda and Luy, who were given 10 days from receipt of notice to comply.

“Without necessarily giving due course to the petition, respondents are hereby directed to file a comment to the said petition within 10 days from notice. Petitioner may file a reply within five days from receipt of the comment,” read the order penned by Associate Justice Noel Tijam.

The CA also ordered the parties to inform the appellate court of “any pending or subsequently filed (case) involving the same parties and issues as in the instant petition within five days from learning of the same.”

Associate Justices Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla and Edwin Sorongon concurred with the CA ruling.

In her petition filed last April 10, Napoles asked the CA to void the Nov. 21, 2013 and Feb. 12, 2014 orders of the RTC citing the court’s “grave abuse of discretion.”

In its February ruling, the Makati RTC denied the motion for reconsideration of Napoles due to lack of new arguments.

In rejecting Napoles’ plea for bail, the Makati RTC said she and her brother Jojo Lim had indeed “deprived” Luy of his liberty even if the latter was allowed to move around while in detention at Bahay ni San Jose in Magallanes, Makati City.