(Eagle News) – Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra confirmed that the two whistleblowers of the WellMed Dialysis Center who exposed the ghost dialysis claims made by the center, have been admitted provisionally into the Witness Protection Program.
The former WellMed employees who were granted provisional admission into the WPP under the Department of Justice (DOJ) are Edwin Roberto and Liezel Aileen De Leon.
“They were provisionally admitted into the WPP, good for 90 days,” Guevarra said.
“That’s pending preliminary investigation by the DOJ of the seven other respondents,” he explained.
Guevarra also said that the witnesses’ provisional WPP cover could later be converted into permanent status if their become state witnesses during trial.
“Should they be discharged by the court and become state witnesses during the trial, their provisional WPP cover may be converted to permanent upon their application,” the DOJ chief said.
Roberto and De Leon were among those charged with estafa thru falsification of official documents, along with WellMed owner Brian Sy.
The two witnesses also asked the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 219 defer the issuance of a commitment order to the Quezon City Jail because of this recent development – their provisional admission to the WPP.
In their motion, they asked the court for them to remain in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) until they receive their formal commitment to the WPP.
