By Ritchie A Horario & Jomar Canlas/Manila Times

The government-run Ospital ng Makati was placed under alert over the weekend for the possible confinement there of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, after a court approved her petition to leave her prison cell and seek surgery at a hospital for abnormal bleeding.
An emergency room staff, who declined to be identified, told Manila Times that a memorandum had been issued by the hospital administration directing all personnel to be on alert for the confinement of Napoles.
She, however, said the memo did not indicate the date and time when Napoles would be transferred to the hospital from Fort Santo Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, where Napoles is being detained.
The memorandum was issued after the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) granted on Friday a request by Napoles to undergo surgery.
But instead of her preferred hospital, St Luke’s Medical Centre in Taguig City, Judge Elmo Alameda, of the Makati RTC Branch, ruled that Napoles be confined at the Ospital ng Makati.
On March 21, a tearful Napoles appealed to the court to allow her to undergo medical surgery at St Luke’s Medical Centre, after doctors who checked on her condition said she had an ovarian tumor.
In a resolution, Alameda said Napoles can have the surgery to remove her myoma uteri and post-operative care at the Makati hospital.
It has been two days since Alameda granted Napoles hospital confinement but she is yet to be transferred to the hospital.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has expressed readiness for Napoles’ transfer.
But Senior Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, PNP Public Information Office chief, said they were not sure when Napoles would be brought to Ospital ng Makati.
“The court order did not give us a deadline or definite time for us to transfer Napoles,” he told a television interview.
Sindac said they just wanted to make sure that the facilities to be used in the surgery of Napoles are all prepared before she is confined at the Makati hospital.
”Doctors from (the hospital) and of Napoles from St Luke’s are still co-ordinating with one another, we still have to confirm this through our doctors in Camp Crame,” he added.
However, lawyer Faye Singson, a legal counsel of Napoles, said the PNP should follow the court order immediately.
“The transfer should not be dependent on the circumstance of the doctors, the basis should be the court order,” she added.
Alameda’s resolution did not state the exact date of Napoles’ confinement.
Napoles is detained at Fort Santo Domingo on charges of serious illegal detention.
In another apparent setback for Napoles, the Court of Appeals (CA) has upheld the filing by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of a complaint of serious illegal detention, for illegally detaining Benhur Luy, one of the pork barrel scam witnesses.
Late last week, the CA junked Napoles’ petition for certiorari assailing the review resolution dated August 6, 2013 of the DOJ Task Force on Anti-Kidnapping, directing the filing of an information against Napoles and her brother Reynald Lim.
The 23-page decision of the CA that was obtained by Manila  Times was penned by Associate Justice Ramon Garcia and was concurred by Associate Justices Rebecca de Guia-Salvador and Vicente Veloso.
“This court finds no compelling reason to reverse or modify the assailed ruling of the DOJ Task Force,” the decision read.
The case stemmed from a complaint filed by Luy, a former Napoles employee, who claimed that Napoles and Lim detained him for two to three months starting in December 2012.
The reason for this was because Napoles had found out that Luy, her cousin, had secured a P5.5mn loan using her name and without any authorisation.
Luy’s camp said he was detained to prevent him from spilling the beans on Napoles’ anomalous transactions including an alleged P10bn from lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund through her bogus foundations and
non-government organisations.
Luy was rescued by National Bureau of Investigation agents in March 2013.
Napoles and Lim were ordered arrested in August 2013 over the illegal detention case.
Napoles surrendered to President Benigno Aquino after it was announced that a P10mn reward is being offered for her arrest. Lim is still in hiding.
On Napoles’ contention that the Makati Regional Trial Court committed grave abuse of discretion when it issued a warrant of arrest against her and her brother, the CA held that there was no basis to rule on her argument.
It added that Napoles also failed “to file the necessary pleading before the RTC that issued the warrant of arrest to contest the same.”