NBI director Nonnatus Rojas wrote the Coast Guard for assistance, asking its units to inform the NBI if they spot Napoles or her brother Reynald, radio dzBB’s Carlo Mateo reported on Friday afternoon.
Coast Guard spokesman Cmdr. Armand Balilo said instructions have been sent to Coast Guard stations to be on alert for Napoles and her brother, who are subjects of an arrest warrant issued by a Makati court.
The arrest warrant for the Napoles siblings stemmed from the alleged illegal detention of who would turn out to be the whistleblower in the pork barrel scam.
Earlier on Friday, the Philippine National Police joined in the hunt for Napoles after receiving a copy of the arrest warrant.
An updated dzBB report said the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group deployed 19 tracker teams nationwide to go after the siblings.
Napoles, the woman at the center of an alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam, has been ordered arrested for the serious illegal detention case involving whistleblower Benhur Luy.
“Warrants of arrest (were) issued this afternoon by Br. 150, RTC-Makati vs Janet Lim Napoles and her brother Reynald ‘Jojo’ Lim in the serious illegal detention case,” Justice Secretary Leila de Lima told GMA News Online on Wednesday.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has charged Napoles and Lim for the alleged illegal detention of Luy, lead employee of Napoles’ JLN Group of Companies, which has been linked to anomalies involving the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), or pork barrel, of several lawmakers.
Napoles’ company was alleged to have been tapped in ghost projects of the government, pegged in one report as totalling P10 billion worth of projects, and these ghost projects were allegedly used by lawmakers for kickbacks.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) had earlier cleared Napoles and Lim of illegal detention charges, but the NBI moved for the reversal of the decision.
“The motion for reconsiderations of NBI and Benhur Luy were granted,” De Lima said.
De Lima said the case was non-bailable, and that the “NBI team (is) on its way to implement (the arrest warrants).” – with a report from Mark Merueñas, VVP, GMA News
