‘Unwanted’ people among Napoles’ hospital visitors

Bea Cupin

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‘Unwanted’ people among Napoles’ hospital visitors
People claiming to be connected to 'high government officials' have been visiting Janet Lim Napoles, asking about the infamous list of politicians she implicated in the pork barrel scam

MANILA, Philippines – It wasn’t just family members, her husband, doctors and lawyers who’ve been paying visits to Janet Lim Napoles in the hospital.

According to her lead counsel Stephen David, “unwanted and unwelcome” people also came by to visit the alleged pork barrel scam mastermind, who through her lawyers submitted on Monday, May 26, her first full affidavit to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

On the sidelines of a hearing on Napoles’ motion to extend her stay at the Ospital ng Makati (OsMak or Makati Hospital) in Makati City, David told reporters the “unwelcome” visitors were people claiming to be connected to politicians, including those included in a list of lawmakers Napoles implicated in the scandal.

Dinadala nila ang pangalan ng mga high officials…Sabi nila representatives ng mga… may suspicion nila na nasa list. Inaalam, gusto nilang i-confirm kung kasama ba sila,” said David. (They claim to be affiliated with high government officials. They say they’re representatives of those who think they’re on the list. They want to confirm if they’re actually in it.)

Pressed to identify these people or the politicians they were connected to, David said he was not privy to the details and that Napoles just broadly mentioned these visits to him.

Napoles, under detention for serious illegal detention charges, also faces plunder raps alongside 3 opposition senators. David said Napoles’ affidavit, which was submitted to the DOJ on May 26, includes 18 “incumbent, former, and deceased” senators, as well as more than 100 representatives.

The woman at the center of the country’s worst corruption scandal in recent years is said to have pocketed millions out of the pork barrel funds issued to lawmakers. Government prosecutors claimed she was able to do so by forming fake non-governmental organizations in connivance with lawmakers and official of various government agencies.

David said not all politicians were threatening Napoles’ life. “Yung iba, nakikiusap,” he said. (Others are asking for her to spare them.) 

Violating hospital rules?

Napoles has been staying at OsMak for over 2 months now, following her transfer to remove a mass in her uterus. She was moved from her detention center in Laguna on March 31 and underwent a complete hysterectomy on April 23.

The alleged scam mastermind was supposed to be moved back to Laguna on May 23, but her personal physicians reported “excessive vaginal bleeding” on May 21, prompting her doctors to revoke an earlier discharge order.

During the hearing, OsMak ob-gyn Florentina Villanueva said stress could be one of the factors that caused Napoles’ bleeding, almost a month after going under the knife.

Napoles’ personal gynaecological oncologist Dr. Efren Domingo also mentioned stress, particularly Napoles’ debacle in the pork barrel scam. But Villanueva mentioned another possible cause: the sheer number of visitors in her room.

Villanueva noted that Napoles would have visitors in her room late into the night, way beyond OsMak’s visiting hours from 9 am to 12 noon and from 3 pm to 6 pm.

Maria Lorice Grace Bien, one of Napoles’ attending nurses, said Napoles had from 2 up to 8 visitors at a time in her room. For most patients, OsMak only allows 2 visitors at a time.

On Sunday, May 25, Bien said 6-7 visitors stayed until Monday morning, May 26. David later told reporters Napoles and her team were only able to finalize her affidavit “around 7 am” on Monday.

At the beginning of Napoles’ stay, the Philippine National Police (PNP) presented to OsMak Medical Director Perry Peralta a list of people authorized to visit Napoles. Despite the list, Peralta said OsMak advised the PNP to allow only 2 visitors at a time, “considering [Napoles’] condition.”

“Unfortunately reports have reached my office that the visiting hours and the number of visitors, these parameters were being violated,” said Peralta, adding that they got reports that even media personalities not on the list were allowed to visit Napoles.

“[The police] were getting permission from somebody else… I’m very sure it’s not any of the hospital authorities,” Peralta told the court.

Not complaining

Under the court’s orders, OsMak is responsible for giving Napoles medical attention. Her security, meanwhile, is under the PNP Regional Office 4-A, which has custodial responsibility over Napoles.

Asked if OsMak’s rules were never followed when it came to Napoles, Peralta said it was “hard to say if rules were never implemented.”

“Perhaps it was, but [implementation] was sporadic,” Peralta told reporters.

Police Inspector Gary Alcaraz Bregunda, team leader of the unit guarding Napoles, said they allowed Napoles’ husband and children to visit Napoles even at night. “In emergency cases,” he noted, they also allowed her lawyers and spiritual advisors.

David, after the hearing, told reporters that it was Napoles’ right as a detainee to be allowed access to her legal counsels at all times. However, while Napoles was detained at Fort Sto Domingo in Laguna, her lawyers, spiritual advisors and even family could only visit her during set visiting hours.

Peralta clarified he was not blaming the PNP and said he would not be writing any formal complaint.

“We just have to leave the PNP to implement what they are mandated to do – implement hospital policies, make sure that the care to other patients is not obstructed,” he told reporters.

Doctors on Monday told the court Napoles can be discharged by May 29, Thursday assuming the excessive bleeding does not return. – Rappler.com

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Bea Cupin

Bea is a senior multimedia reporter who covers national politics. She's been a journalist since 2011 and has written about Congress, the national police, and the Liberal Party for Rappler.