DOJ getting more testimonies on deaths of high-profile Bilibid inmates
MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said Thursday that they are getting more testimonies on the deaths of high-profile inmates at the New Bilibid Prison as the Bureau of Corrections investigates these fatalities which an inmate claims are killings.
“We just have to look for the truth behind every issue. We cannot allow speculation to rule our lives. That’s why we’re eliciting testimonies from people who may help us uncover the truth,” Remulla told reporters in a chance interview.
“A lot of people are going to my office, sending word about news. So little by little, until we get the name of the person, then we have them interviewed properly. Of course we have to go through the process. We vet the information before we act on it,” he added.
The justice chief said they are still “trying to establish facts” and are not yet looking at who could be behind these alleged killings of high-profile inmates.
BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said these deaths have long been in their radar, but were only superseded by other events related to Bilibid and suspended corrections chief Gerald Bantag, including the assassination of broadcaster Percy Lapid and the discovery of a 200-meter wide and 30-meter deep hole inside the national penitentiary.
Catapang told DZBB that testimonies they received related to the fatalities have been forwarded to the National Bureau of Investigation, although he said the BuCor is also conducting its own probe on the deaths of seven or eight “drug lords.”
Among their findings was that convicted drug trafficker Jaybee Sebastian died at the Bilibid Extension School of the University of Perpetual Help and not at the COVID-19 quarantine facility inside Bilibid or a hospital.
“He was brought there. That’s why we’re also investigating why he didn't die at the hospital,” Catapang said.
Several high-profile inmates died at Bilibid at the height of the pandemic, with officials typically writing off their deaths as having been caused by COVID-19.
But detainee Rodel Tiaga claimed in a report by GMA Integrated News that aired Tuesday on “24 Oras” that some of these inmates were actually killed, including convicted drug trafficker Eugene Chua.
Tiaga alleged that Chua, who supposedly died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to COVID-19 on June 19, 2020 according to his medical certificate, was suffocated by two people using a rope and a plastic bag.
He also claimed that a “frontliner” asked him to wash the plastic bag used to kill Chua.
Catapang said they will be asking Tiaga’s companions who may have also witnessed Chua’s alleged killing, along with hospital officials and Metro Manila police, whom the corrections chief said handled COVID-19 cases at the time.
On top of these, Catapang also said they will be asking who were the attending doctors, who autopsied, who said that the inmates died from COVID-19 and who authorized the deceased inmates’ cremations. — with a report from Kristine Joy Patag
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