Napoles, Lanete Allowed Granted Bail
Granted Bail.Following the decision of the Fourth Division of the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan, Masbate Governor Rizalina Seachon-Lanete and Businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles were allowed to post bail for their plunder case against their alleged involvement in the controversial pork barrel scam.
The dispositive portion of the ruling read that the court considered the findings of the evidence used against the accused Lanete and Napoles is not strong for their case, thus allowing them to apply for bail.
In the same ruling, the court set the bail for each accused at P 500, 000.
During her term as Masbate representative, Lanete allegedly misuse the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel that led to the plunder and graft cases against her and Napoles.
If the prosecution would be able to prove the evidence, plunder is non-bailable however for graft case it is a bailable offense.
According to the records coming from the Office of the Ombudsman, Lanete received a total of P108.4-million worth of kickbacks from her PDAF from 2004 to 2010, faking foundations which were allegedly owned by Napoles.
It was May 2015 when the Fourth Division started the hearing for Lanete and Napoles’ cases and in February 2016, the Fourth Division ordered for the prosecution and the defense to submit their respective memorandum thus ending the bail hearing.
On Monday, April 11, the court issues a resolution wherein they admitted all the evidence of both the prosecution and the defense citing their respective memorandum which summarizes the positions and the exhibits they presented in the prior proceedings and declared that the accused’s separate petitions were already considered submitted for the resolution.
While Lanete can be released from her detention at the BJMP Female Dormitory at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, Napoles would have to remain in jail following the decision of the Makati Regional Trial Court that sentenced her for a reclusion perpetua for the illegal detention case.
Former right-hand man Benhur Luy, the primary state witness in pork barrel scam cases, once filed the case to Napoles.
Earlier, Sandigan First Division and Fifth Division denied the petition for bail applied by Napoles as one of the accused in the plunder case to which Sen. Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada were also connected.