SEN. Richard Gordon yesterday said the death of nine high-profile inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) has only added to the controversies that have hounded the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) in the past.
Saying that the deaths were “questionable,” Gordon, who is the chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee, said: “We cannot cheat the hangman. The Bureau of Prisons has not earned public trust. And they cannot, on their own, hindi sila dapat magsabi eto namatay na ito, tapos na (they should not have declared by themselves that someone has died and that’s it). We cannot treat that as Gospel truth.”
Gordon said it is plausible to believe allegations that body-switching could have taken place to help Jaybee Sebastian and other high-profile inmates escape, adding it is also highly questionable that high-profile inmates, who enjoy luxuries and privileges while jailed, could have been infected without proper documentation and without attracting attention.
He said there is really a need to investigate the inmates’ deaths since there were protocols that BuCor officials did not follow concerning the conditions of the notorious inmates.
“I am not going to speculate pero may pinakita silang litrato. Kung tatakas ka kunan mo
muna ako ng litrato. Hindi ko mapaniwalaan ‘yan. Ang lakas ng katahimikan nila, their silence speaks volumes (I am not going to speculate but they [BuCor officials] have shown pictures to the media. If a prisoner will escape he will say to first take a picture of him. I cannot believe this. Their silence is too loud. Their silence speaks volumes),” Gordon said.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros filed a resolution urging the appropriate Senate committee to conduct an investigation into the deaths of the nine high-profile drug inmates.
“Questions are being raised surrounding these high-profile deaths. For the sake of transparency, they need to be clarified,” Hontiveros said upon filing proposed Senate Resolution No. 473.
The resolution cited that the alleged corruption inside BuCor as revealed in previous Senate investigations, “including cases of ‘Good Conduct Time Allowance for Sale’ and other schemes in which high-ranking officials of the Bureau would dispense favors to rich inmates, in exchange for monetary consideration” casts a cloud of doubt over the deaths, especially with the seemingly secretive and immediate disposal of remains.
“The lack of reliable information on the deaths of the inmates, the track record of some officials within the BuCor, and the improbability of the fatality rate, creates enough doubt in the mind of a reasonable person on the truthfulness of these deaths,” Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros also urged the investigation to look into the health and sanitary conditions in penal institutions “so that the abnormally high number of COVID-19 fatalities might be addressed.”
“By conducting this investigation, we may be able to put an end to speculation and improve our response to the pandemic within our penal institutions,” she added.
Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon said Director General Gerald Bantag does not deserve to stay longer as BuCor chief with the way things went for the high-profile inmates.
“The presumption of regularity is quite difficult because there was no CCTV, no photos of the body, and the body was not opened when the body was cremated. That is precisely the problem. It enhances the suspicion that something is amiss, something is not right and something is being hidden. Such action does not merit his continued stay in the BuCor,” Drilon said.
