Gigi Reyes seeks transfer to Camp Crame

MANILA, Philippines – Lawyer Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, charged with plunder and graft in connection with the pork barrel scam, also wants to be detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame.

Reyes filed an urgent motion to transfer detention on Monday, July 7, before anti-graft court Sandiganbayan. 

Currently jailed at the court’s detention center in the Sandiganbayan building in Quezon City, Reyes was committed to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Quezon City. The court however asked the bureau to report back on the status of its facility. 

In her plea, Reyes cited a BJMP report that it has no adequate facility to secure her.

The lawyer, a former chief of staff of detained Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, was reportedly in tears when she found out about the commitment order. (READ: How things went wrong for Gigi Reyes)

Her temporary jailhouse at the Sandiganbayan ground floor detention center is air-conditioned. She was brought there from the court’s female-exclusive detention cell at the basement, where she was first detained Friday night, July 4, because her blood pressure shot up.

Among the accused in the pork scam who surrendered to government, Reyes is the only one currently held at the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan detention cell. 

All others are detained at police camps, either at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, or at a PNP training camp in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, in the case of suspected scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.

Those detained at Camp Crame are Enrile, Senator Jose “Jinggoy Estrada, Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr, and Revilla’s legislative staff Richard Cambe. Reyes is Enrile’s former chief of staff. 

Enrile however is staying at the PNP General Hospital in the camp. He has asked the court to make him stay there and not to transfer him anymore to any jail.

Reyes has been Enrile’s most trusted aide (READ: ‘The Boss’ and Gigi Reyes). Enrile’s wife once confirmed the affair between him and Reyes (READ: Enrile, his wife Cristina and his affair with Gigi Reyes). – Rappler.com