A PANEL of prosecutors has been formed to probe the murder complaints filed by the National Bureau of Investigation against 22 policemen and a doctor from the National Capital Region Police Office in connection with the mysterious deaths of eight high-profile Bilibid inmates in 2020 that were reported by the Bureau of Correction to have been due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento said the panel would determine if there is probable cause to file criminal charges before the court.
“I signed it today,” Malcontento said referring to the memorandum that created the panel even as he refused to divulge the prosecutors who would investigate the complaint.
Among the high-profile inmates who died from May to June 2020 allegedly due to COVID-19 were Francis Go (May 28, 2020), Shuli Zhang (May 30), Jimmy Ang (June 1), Eugene Chua (June 2), Benjamin Marcelo (June 2), Sherwin Sanchez (June 4), Amin Imam Boratong (June 5) and Willy Yang (June 17).
Former Justice secretary Menardo Guevarra directed the NBI to look into the deaths of the eight prisoners after questions were raised as to the real cause of their demise.
In probing the deaths, the NBI discovered that the inmates were confined at a special site in the national penitentiary and “gradually disappeared” before they were reported death.
Witnesses said the prisoners did not appear to be ill or in any unusual condition before they were brough to Site Harry, a special facility inside the National Bilibid Prisons where inmates infected with the coronavirus were brought for quarantine and treatment.
