THE Bureau of Corrections, in charge of the country’s main penitentiary, the National Bilibid Prison (NBP), is again under public scrutiny over the death of several ‘high profile’ prisoners, allegedly, due to COVID-19.
Among the dead were Amin Boratong the druglord and operator of the infamous ‘Pasig Shabu Tiangge’ and, Jaybee Niño Sebastian, one of the major witnesses in the involvement to the country’s illegal drug trade of former justice secretary (and now senator), Leila de Lima.
The public’s suspicion and those of the senators was triggered by no less than Bucor director, Gerald Bantag, who had not been forthcoming when asked by the media last week over the reported deaths of some of the country’s known druglords, Sebastian and Boratong, among them.
Before and after his meeting last July 20, 2020, with Department of Justice (DOJ) secretary, Menardo Guevarra, Bantag even growled at the media and merely confirmed that “there are PDLs (persons deprived of liberty) who died due to COVID-19.”
Four days later, on July 23, 2020, the Bucor had a press conference where a picture of a body wearing only boxer shorts was presented to the media, claiming it was the body of Sebastian taken after his death. The head of the body, however, was not shown.
While Bantag still would not release the list of PDLs whom he claimed all died from COVID-19 and further claiming his refusal was due to RA 10173 or the ‘Data Privacy Act,’ a list of dead prisoners provided by a crematorium in Dasmariñas, Cavite to the media showed 29 names.
The most prominent name in the list was that of Sebastian who was cremated on July 18, 2020.
On the other hand, during his meeting with Guevarra, Bantag reportedly only gave 21 names.
Sebastian’s family said they don’t believe that he died from COVID-19 and that he was actually “murdered;” rumors are also rife that some of the drug lords have been freed for a huge fee and the Bucor then reported them dead from COVID-19 and immediately “cremated.”
Bantag had denied all accusations of foul play, saying he is willing to be investigated in order to prove that all the deceased died from the virus.
The Senate, for its part, is calling on the dare of Bantag, with no less than Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III, filing a resolution to probe the controversy thru the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chaired by Sen. Richard ‘Dick’ Gordon.
Sotto is the author of the country’s anti-drug law, RA 9165 while it was Gordon who broke into the open last year the “freedom for sale” racket at the Bucor thru the ‘Good Conduct Time Allowance’ (GCTA) Law.
The Senate investigation is scheduled after July 27, 2020, or after the delivery of Pres. Duterte’s ‘State of the Nation Address’ (SONA).