Duterte on Jaybee: I don’t talk to criminals

DAVAO CITY , Philippines– President Duterte has rejected the request of convicted crime boss Jaybee Sebastian to seek an audience with him.

Sebastian is recuperating in hospital after being injured in a riot last Wednesday at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.

“I do not talk to criminals. He can go to the fiscal if he wants. Or maybe write a letter to (Foreign Affairs) Secretary (Perfecto) Yasay if that is his... what? He has a problem now?” Duterte said upon his arrival at the Davao International Airport before dawn yesterday after a two-day visit to Vietnam. 

Sebastian’s lawyer Edgar Arriba earlier said his client would speak about his knowledge of the drug trade inside the penitentiary, but only with the President.

Arriba said Sebastian would be telling the President “doubly explosive” information on the drug trade at the NBP that would possibly implicate officials of both the previous and present administrations. 

However, the President strongly disagreed with the terms of Sebastian.

The President stressed that whatever is happening to Sebastian could be a result of his past misdeeds. 

But Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said he is willing to talk to Sebastian’s lawyer.

Aguirre, who was with the party of the President in Vietnam, said that Arriba could get in touch with him if ever the lawyer wants to talk.

“But whatever Sebastian would say does not matter anymore as there is already more than sufficient evidence,” Aguirre said, referring to the House investigation on Sen. Leila de Lima who once served as justice secretary when the illegal drug trade proliferated in the NBP, which is supervised by the Bureau of Correctional (BuCor) under the Department of Justice.

De Lima said that Sebastian was actually a government asset in the campaign against illegal drugs during the Aquino administration.

Aguirre, however, claimed that Sebastian raised funds from the illegal drug trade at the NBP for the senatorial campaign of De Lima.

The justice secretary said if Sebastian wants to cooperate in the investigation into the drug trade in the NBP, he should confess everything and not be selective in his testimony.

He urged Sebastian to “tell everything, without any selection… My only condition is if he wants to cooperate he tells the whole truth. We are not offering any promise, we are not torturing him.”

Aguirre also did not see the need for Sebastian to meet with the President since he could just execute an affidavit and disclose everything that he knows.

He earlier said that they are open to offering witness protection program (WPP) security to Sebastian on the condition that he would tell the whole truth.

As for the request of Arriba to transfer Sebastian to a different penal colony, Aguirre said that they would verify if there is a threat on the convict’s life and if it is needed for his security.

CIDG probe

Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) director Chief Supt. Roel Obusan said they are still investigating who stabbed convicted kidnapper Tony Co during the reported riot at the NBP.

“Actually the focus of the investigation will be for the assailants. And it will be quite a rigorous one. We cannot yet say we already have the whole picture,” said Obusan.

“I cannot say how many assailants right now. I might be misconstrued. If I say six now and then later on, it will turn out to be eight, you will already say that the investigation is not truthful and there is cover-up again. That’s the reason why we really wanted to be very meticulous in talking about the incident. Investigators usually will not give details of the investigation, not until everything is finalized and ready for public knowledge,” he said.

Co was killed while Sebastian and fellow inmates Peter Co and Vicente Sy were among those injured during the riot at the NBP.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa directed the CIDG to investigate the riot inside Building 14 or the maximum security detention cell where Co was killed.

At least 300 commandos of the PNP Special Action Force (SAF) have taken over the security of the NBP in an effort to stop illegal activities in the detention facility.

Obusan said CIDG investigators have been conducting investigation immediately after the riot on Sept. 28.

“Actually, it has been two days of labor for members of the CIDG. Immediately, our agents went to Bilibid and conducted investigation until 2:30 a.m. They are there until now. We have finished conducting some interviews on the victims, on other witnesses,” said Obusan.

He said the Scene of the Crime Operatives are also processing the crime scene in an effort to lift more evidence to help them establish what happened before, during and after the riot.

Obusan said another focus of the CIDG investigation is the video footage from the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera at the NBP.

Although investigators are working double time, Obusan said he did not give them a deadline to protect the integrity of the evidence.

Obusan said other witnesses and people who may have something to contribute in the probe are very cooperative.

“We are happy about that. All the national agencies: the BuCor, the other members of government agencies, were all equally, hand in hand helping one another so as to ferret out the truth of whatever wrong assumptions or allegations about the incident. We really wanted to have a clear picture so as we can convey truthful conduct of investigation,” said Obusan.

He, however, pointed out that he does not expect the inmates to be giving exact information, which could indicate they were being coached.

He said that all testimonies, not only that of Sebastian, would be taken into consideration.

He added investigators would evaluate if they need to get more statements or testimonies.

Inmates involved in the recent riot were placed in preventive cells for their security, a source said yesterday.

The source said several inmates were taken out from their cells in Building 14 and transferred to preventive cells pending the result of the CIDG investigation.

Initial investigation conducted by the Bucor showed that witnesses pinpointed inmate Clarence Dongail as the assailant of Tony Co and Peter Co, while Sebastian tagged a certain Thomas as his attacker.

Dongail, however, claimed that it was Tony Co who attacked him after he reprimanded Co and his companion to stop taking shabu inside their cell. – Edith Regalado, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Perseus Echeminada, Evelyn Macairan