Google – AFP, Jason Gutierrez, 29 August 2013
 |
Janet
Napoles (2nd L), in a handout from Malacanang Photo Bureau,
released August 29,
2013 (Rodolfo Manabat/MPB/AFP/Ho)
|
MANILA — A
Philippine businesswoman who allegedly helped legislators embezzle 10 billion
pesos ($230 million) in government funds has surrendered to President Benigno
Aquino, officials said Thursday.
Clad in
jeans, pink sneakers and a hoodie, Janet Napoles strode into Malacanang
presidential palace late Wednesday, according to photographs released by
Aquino's office.
The
middle-aged woman had eluded a nationwide police manhunt as details of her
family's lavish lifestyle fuelled popular outrage in social media.
"Now
that we got her, we can bring her to court," Aquino spokesman Edwin
Lacierda told reporters.
 |
| Philippine President Benigno Aquino delivers a speech in Congress in Manila on July 22, 2013 (AFP/File, Jay Directo) |
"We
are doing our best to further bring us closer to the truth."
Napoles
faced arrest for allegedly detaining a former aide-turned-whistleblower to keep
him from revealing details of the alleged embezzlement.
However
justice officials are readying additional charges that she allegedly connived
with legislators to syphon off money from a development fund.
Lacierda
said he fetched Napoles from a Manila cemetery on Wednesday night and brought
her directly to the palace after her lawyer alerted the government that she
wanted to surrender.
Lacierda
said no special treatment was afforded the fugitive, but acknowledged that
Napoles was not hand-cuffed and had even been given a 10-minute audience with
Aquino, who assured her of her safety amid alleged threats to her life.
Aquino went
with the group that took Napoles to the national police headquarters, Lacierda
said.
Napoles'
surrender came three days after tens of thousands of Filipinos held a mass
protest demanding her arrest and the abolition of legislators' controversial
Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
The fund is
supposed to finance lamakers' pet development schemes, but critics charge they
are "pork barrel" projects which have traditionally been a source of
corruption.
Napoles
allegedly syphoned off money through fake non-governmental organisations.
"We're
all after Ms. Napoles. Everybody was so outraged. She has become the symbol of
what we were so angry about last Monday," Lacierda said.
 |
File photo
of the Philippine National
Police headquarters in Manila (AFP/
File, Jay
Directo)
|
The protest
germinated on Facebook as people vented their frustrations.
The online
movement snowballed into a protest call, and on Monday up to 100,000 people
joined the peaceful rally in Manila.
While
Aquino had backed the protest, critics on Thursday said they were suspicious of
the circumstances surrounding what they called a "VIP surrender".
"Our
challenge is for her to bare all and for Malacanang to ensure that she is not
coached or censored under custody," said the Labor Party group.
Aquino won
the presidency in 2010 on a platform to end the pervasive corruption he blames
for many of the country's woes.
Among his
first acts was to work for the impeachment of a Supreme Court chief justice he
accused of protecting his predecessor Gloria Arroyo from prosecution.
Arroyo is
in detention and is now facing charges of massive corruption.
 |
Thousands of protesters make a thumbs down sign during a rally against
corruption at a park in Manila on August 26, 2013 (AFP, Ted Aljibe)
|
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