BY RAYMOND AFRICA and ASHZEL HACHERO
SENATE president pro tempore Ralph Recto yesterday told Director General Gerald Bantag of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to present solid evidence if he wants to prove his claim that the nine high-value drug inmates, including Jaybee Sebastian, who recently died inside the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) all succumbed to COVID-19 complications.
Recto said a public pronouncement will not tone down public skepticisms that the virus pandemic was used as a convenient cover to facilitate a possible escape of the nine drug lords from Building 14 of the national penitentiary.
“There is always a photographic record of the deceased, more so in this age when everyone has a cellphone and every cellphone has a camera. Show them to the justice secretary — and the death certificates and medical records of the deceased high-profile drug lords — and all the conspiracy theories in this land, where weaving them is a national hobby, will be buried,” Recto said.
He added in a statement: “The proof of death is a photo of the body. If there is, then doubts will be laid to rest. But there is no need to stage a macabre show by making the photo public. Simply show it to the justice secretary, and if he says that he had seen it and swears that it is true, then we’ll take his word for it.”
Recto said the BuCor can also present a video footage of the bodies being carried out of the jail facility to boost Bantag’s claims that it was indeed the high-profile inmates who died.
He said CCTV cameras abound at the NBP and it would be impossible not to even capture those moments.
“Kung mayroong (If there are) CCTV footage of the body being brought out, the better. And why should there be none? A prison without surveillance cameras is like one without locks,” he added.
As a standard operating procedure, Recto said prison facilities take photos of an arriving inmate, therefore, an inmate leaving the prison for good “whether he walks out a free man, or is carried out horizontally” is also a must.
Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon said the burden now rests on the BuCor to present regularity in its functions.
“Given the anomalies in the BuCor unearthed in the Senate hearings, we cannot help but suspect that faking deaths of prisoners can happen,” Drilon said.
Sen. Richard Gordon, in an interview over CNN Philippines, said the BuCor should have immediately informed Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra of the deaths of the prisoners.
“As a lawyer, kapag namatay, dapat magpakita ng pruweba na talagag namatay, hindi yung ilalagay sa body bag. Kahit may death certificate dapat may protocol na tatawagan ang SOJ (As a lawyer, if there is someone who dies, you must show proof that that person really died and not just put his remains in a body bag. Even if there is a death certificate, there is a protocol that the secretary of justice must be informed),” Gordon said.
Gordon said inmates who get sick are normally isolated which must be recorded.
He said swab samples should have been taken from the inmates who died for confirmatory testing to determine if they really succumbed to COVID-19.
“Nakapagtataka ang circumstances, napakita na lang ay abo. Ang dapat ipakita ay litrato ng namatay or may independent na tao from DOH na pinadala ng SOJ kasi alam mo naman malaki ang pera sa Muntinlupa. Madaling gumawa ng pera sa Muntinlupa, maraming allegation na nababayaran ang mga tao (The circumstances are puzzling as they have only shown a picture of the ashes. They should have shown a photo of the dead or there should have been an independent staff from the Department of Health sent by the secretary of justice because you know large amounts of money are circulating in Muntinlupa. It is easy to make money in Muntinlupa),” Gordon said.
DENIAL
Bantag refuted speculations that the deaths due to COVID-19 of the high-profile drug lords inmates was a ploy to cover up their release.
“The death certificate speaks for itself. ‘Yun na ‘yun. Dapat nagtitiwala sila sa inilagay na tauhan ng gobyerno (They should trust the people put up in that position,” Bantag said.
He said those who claim that the BuCor faked the deaths of the drug lords should present evidence to back up their allegations.
Bantag was placed on the hot seat after he refused to make public the identities of the eight drug inmates who died of COVID-19 complications, citing provisions of the Data Privacy Act.
Meanwhile, Guevarra said the drug-related cases filed against detained opposition Sen. Leila de Lima will not be affected by the death of Sebastian.
Sebastian was among the high-profile inmates who testified against De Lima in the 2016 hearings of the House of Representatives regarding her alleged involvement in the illegal drugs trade at the national penitentiary when she was still the DOJ chief.
He was among the so-called “Bilibid 19” inmates who were reported to have lived lavishly inside the NBP’s maximum security compound, with a kubol built for his exclusive use.
De Lima led the dismantling of the structures in 2014.
Sebastian later told the House hearings that de Lima collected P70 million from the proceeds of the illegal drugs trade inside the NBP to fund her 2016 senate campaign, a charge de Lima has repeatedly denied.
Guevarra said the prosecution has other witnesses against the detained senator and that they got a strong case against her.
“Jaybee Sebastian is only one in an array of witnesses against Senator de Lima. His loss does not affect in any significant manner the overall strategy of the prosecution in the pending criminal cases,” Guevarra said.
FULL INVESTIGATION
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines called for a full investigation into prison conditions in the country amid the controversy caused by the deaths of the nine drug convicts.
“We support a thorough investigation of the many reported anomalies, in our prisons, including the latest questioned deaths of high-profile inmates due to COVID-19,” IBP national president Domingo Egon Cayosa said.
Guevarra has already directed the National Bureau of Investigation to get to the bottom of the deaths of Sebastian and the other drug convicts. Senate President Vicente Sotto III has likewise sought a Senate inquiry into the issue in aid of legislation.
Cayosa said there is a pressing need to check whether the country’s prison system complies with international standards.
“It may be timely to check whether or not our prisons comply with the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and adequately achieves the objectives of deterrence, restraint, reformation, retribution and restoration,” he said. The standards were adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015.
The Commission on Human Rights in June slammed the inhuman conditions in overcrowded jails and detention centers in the country, saying there were facilities whose populations were over five times their original capacity.
Data from January this year showed that the NBP in Muntinlupa has a congestion rate of 335 percent while the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong city has a 240 percent congestion rate.
The NBP’s maximum security compound alone houses more than 19,000 inmates though it is designed to hold only 6,000.
The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, which operates 468 municipal, city and district jails nationwide, posted a 450 percent congestion rate.
Cayosa also said the Data Privacy Act should not be used to cover accountability of prison officials and employees.
“The Data Privacy Act should not be misused to blur accountability of public officers and thwart the constitutional right to information on matters of public concern,” he said.
Cayosa also stressed the need for strict accountability among prison officials beyond the investigation, adding that erring ones should be removed and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
