THE Supreme Court has rejected the bid of alleged pork barrel queen Janet Lim-Napoles to overturn the Sandiganbayan’s decision to deny her bail in her plunder and other cases.
In a resolution dated Feb. 6, 2018, written by Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr., the Court affirmed its earlier decision to uphold the anti-graft court’s October 2015 and March 2016 rulings. Ten other justices concurred with the decision.
In turning down Napoles’ motion for reconsideration, the Court said the petitioner did not present new arguments to warrant a reversal of its earlier ruling.
The magistrates reiterated that Napoles’ petition for bail did not “involve an inquiry as to whether there was proof beyond reasonable doubt that Napoles was the main plunderer for whose benefit the ill-gotten wealth was amassed or accumulated.”
“These are matters of defense are best left to the discretion of the Sandiganbayan in the resolution of the criminal case. It was sufficient that the denial of her bail application was based on evidence establishing a great presumption of guilt on the part of Napoles,” the Court said.
The Court also said the Sandiganbayan was only required to ascertain “evident proof” that Napoles committed the allegations against her.
Napoles had been taken back to a detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City after a legal intervention by Solicitor General Jose Calida paved the way for her acquittal on illegal detention charges by the Court of Appeals in May last year.
She spent only two years at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City following a guilty verdict meted out on her by a Makati City judge for the serious illegal detention of her cousin Benhur Luy, the primary whistleblower in the pork barrel scam.
Napoles has previously filed several petitions before the Supreme Court seeking to stop her indictment in the pork barrel cases, but these were all dismissed.