House urged to probe deaths of Bilibid inmates

FILE: New Bilibid Prison (Photo By Jovie Naval via Bureau of Corrections/Website)

MANILA – A lawmaker on Thursday urged the House Committee on Justice to look into the reported deaths of several high-profile inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

In filing House Resolution No. 1090, Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said several questions have been raised whether the deaths of these NBP inmates were allegedly faked or simulated, as the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) has declined to disclose information on those who have died from the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

“Because of the initial refusal of the BuCor to release the names of the inmates who died, speculations and other questions have been raised whether the deaths of high-profile inmates were faked or simulated,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said there were even reports of “body-switching, in which dead prisoners who are cremated due to Covid-19 are falsely identified so that high-profile inmates could go free”.

“There are too many questions and mysterious circumstances surrounding the ‘death’ of these inmates and there is a need to look further and investigate the matter,” he said.

He cited the Department of Justice (DOJ) confirming last July 20 that nine high-profile inmates, including Jaybee Sebastian, a convicted kidnapper and car thief who served as a witness and co-accused in one of the drug cases against Senator Leila de Lima, had died of Covid-19.

He said two days before the DOJ confirmation, a list of Bilibid prisoners who reportedly succumbed to the novel coronavirus was “mysteriously circulated to journalists”.

Rodriguez, however, noted that BuCor Director General Gerald Bantag had refused to reveal the identities of high-profile inmates who died of Covid-19, stressing that the Data Privacy law prevents him from naming them in public.

National Privacy Commission Commissioner Mon Liboro subsequently declared that information about the inmates could be released since the convicts “had become public figures on account of their previous association with particular national issues in the past”.

On Wednesday, the DOJ formally received the death certificates of 21 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) who died from Covid-19 at the BuCor.

Justice Undersecretary and spokesman Markk Perete said the certificates will be turned over to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which is conducting an independent investigation into the deaths which include a number of high-profile drug convicts.

Perete confirmed that among those in the list are high-profile PDLs namely Sebastian, Francis Go, Jimmy Yang, Benjamin Marcelo, Zhang Zhu Li, Jimmy Kinsing Hung, Eugene Chua, Ryan Ong, and Amin Boratong.

He, however, declined to name the other inmates on the list.

“The death certificates indicate the cause of death. But as I said, it will be better for NBI to complete its probe and make its own report on these matters,” Perete said.