MANILA, Philippines—In a phone interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Monday, Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac, Philippine National Police (PNP) Public Information Office chief denied that the policemen it had assigned to take charge of securing of Janet Lim-Napoles at the Ospital ng Makati (OsMak) were remiss in their duties by allowing “unauthorized” visitors into her ward.
Speaking on behalf of the PNP, Sindac said that they had not received any complaint from OsMak regarding the security of Napoles. The businesswoman-turned reported key player in the notorious pork barrel fund scam is still confined at the hospital due to vaginal bleeding. Napoles is under guard by personnel from the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) Calabarzon police regional office.
“If we received any complaints, we could have acted on them,” Sindac said.
The situation was brought to attention when Dr. Perry Ishmael Peralta, OsMak Medical Director, said in his court testimony on Monday that they had received reports that their hospital policies on visiting hours and number of visitors were being violated.
To the defense of the PNP, however, Sindac, said that the hospital could have informed those visitors that the patient was already stressed. “Why did they not do that?” Sindac said.
This was in response to a comment made by Dr. Florentina Villanueva, one of the doctors of Napoles, who also said during Monday’s hearing that the influx of visitors inside Napoles’ room may have been stressing her out.
Peralta explained that the hospital administration had been informed Napoles received visitors who were not included in the guest list. He further detailed that the OsMak’s visiting hours are from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily, with only two visitors allowed per patient at a time.
He, however, clarified that the OsMak is not blaming the PNP for lapses in security; rather, he is merely stressing that it is the PNP’s duty to enforce policies where the security of Napoles is concerned.