PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is keeping his distance from the Department of Justice's (DOJ) plan to fully place alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles under the state witness protection program.
Speaking to his audience in Pasay City on March 21, the President said he would leave the final decision on Napoles's fate to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.
Apparently allowing government agencies to exercise independence, Duterte avoided interference and let Aguirre make his own "strategy" on how he would deal with the move.
"Vit Aguirre, I said, why was he embroiled in the issue of Napoles? Well, it would be up to his strategy [to resolve it]," Duterte said on Wednesday night.
Aguirre was under fire after the DOJ granted Napoles partial protection on February 27, in exchange for her testimonies on the misuse of P10-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Some critics sought Aguirre's resignation for placing Napoles under the provisional coverage of the government's protection program.
Napoles is detained at the Bureau of Jail and Management Penology facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, for plunder charges that stemmed from the misuse of pork barrel funds of former senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Ramon Bong Revilla Jr.
On Tuesday, March 20, Aguirre explained that Napoles would only "tell all" about the controversial multi-billion-peso PDAF scheme if the government approves her request to be admitted to the DOJ's witness protection program.
But the Justice secretary assured that Napoles's request would not be granted, if she is proven to be the "most guilty."
"That's why we placed her there. She said, 'I will tell everything.' We are expecting that and if she would not fulfill that -- because we have face-to-face [meeting] -- that (planned protection for her) will not happen," Aguirre told reporters on March 20. (SunStar Philippines)