By Vanne Elaine P. Terrazola
Senators yesterday criticized the Department of Justice for its decision to temporarily place alleged “pork barrel” fund scam mastermind businesswoman Janet L. Napoles under the Witness Protection Program.
The Duterte administration’s strongest ally, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, called the move “crazy.”
“What an unbelievable, ‘crazy’ development. Do some people in the DoJ really believe that Janet Lim Napoles is qualified to be a state witness in the PDAF scam which she herself invented organized and perpetuated???” Pimentel said in a text message.
Opposition Sen. Bam Aquino also disapproved of the decision and called for Aguirre’s resignation for the recent dismissal of illegal drug charges against Cebu businessman Peter Lim and self-confessed drug trader Kerwin Espinosa by the agency’s prosecutors.
“Sa loob ng isang linggo, napalaya ng Department of Justice ang mga drug lord at naipasok ang reyna ng pork barrel scam sa Witness Protection Program. Nasaan ang hustisya para sa mga biktima ng war on drugs at para sa taumbayang nanakawan ng pinaghirapang yaman?” Aquino said in a series of tweets.
“We’d like to remind the DoJ that their mandate is to enact justice for the Filipino people, not to protect drug lords and criminal masterminds. The DoJ must stop perpetrating the culture of impunity in our country and begin upholding the rule of law,” he said.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros said the government’s decision to turn Napoles into a state witness is a “travesty of justice.”
