Jail guards have accused an official of the National Bureau of Investigation as having ordered them to “escort” high-profile detainee Jose Adrian Dera on his trips outside of the jail facility.
In an exclusive interview on GMA News, the guards who spoke on condition of anonymity said NBI Security Management chief Jake Feudo gave orders to allow Dera to leave his cell.
“We just complied with the order as jail guards. We might get fired if we don’t follow,” one of the guards said during the interview.
The guards appealed to the Public Attorney’s Office to help them “fight for the truth” even as Fuedo denied the allegation.
He said the only time he allowed Dera to leave his cell was for a trip to the hospital.
Without naming the official, the NBI earlier said it relieved its security management head for allowing Dera to leave the facility late Tuesday evening, allegedly to go to the hospital.
“The NBI assures the public that our organization will not condone acts of betrayal of public trust. The Chief of the Security Management Section was already relieved from his post pending the investigation of the case,” the bureau said in a statement on Wednesday.
The NBI yesterday filed criminal charges against Dera and six NBI security personnel a day after they were arrested upon returning to the NBI compound in Taft, Manila.
Dera is accused of corrupting public officials under Article 212 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC), for allegedly bribing the security personnel to allow him to get out of NBI detention facility from 8 p.m. Tuesday until midnight of Wednesday.
The six NBI security personnel, meanwhile, are facing complaints for infidelity in the custody of prisoners/detained persons under Art. 223 of the RPC, bribery under Art. 210 of the RPC, and for violating Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Dera is also among the co-accused in the illegal drug case involving former Sen. Leila de Lima.
He is also accused of acting as a bagman of Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr., who is suspected of being the mastermind in the killing of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo.
Teves’ camp has denied allegations linking the lawmaker to Dera.
As this developed, Teves’ lawyer has asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to inhibit itself from investigating the murder charges against his client because of the partiality exhibited by Justice Secretary Jesus Cripin C. Remulla.
In a motion for inhibition filed on Thursday, Teves’ lawyer Ferdinand S. Topacio said the investigation should be turned over to the Office of the Ombudsman.
Teves and several other respondents have been charged with 10 murder, 14 frustrated murder, and four attempted murder charges in the deaths of 10 persons and injuries sustained by 18 others.
The DOJ’s panel of prosecutors has started its preliminary investigation.
Teves, who has been out of the country, has been tagged by Remulla as “one of the masterminds” in the killing of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo. Teves has consistently denied the allegations, but has refused to return to the country to face the charges.
Teves did not attend the preliminary investigation conducted on June 13 and the panel of prosecutors set another investigation on June 27.
“Unfortunately, in this case, no prosecutor under the Department of Justice can confidently and honestly say that they can resolve this preliminary investigation with fairness, impartiality, independence, and integrity as demanded by law and jurisprudence,” Topacio said, in seeking for the inhibition of the DOJ.
“This is primarily because their boss, the secretary of Justice who has the power to review their resolutions, and who also has the power to supervise and discipline them in proper cases, as well as the vast administrative powers over every prosecutor such as the power to promote and reassign, among others, has been firm in claiming that Teves Jr. is the mastermind in the death of Governor Degamo, even prior the filing of this case,” Topacio added.
Because of this, Teves’ lawyer said “equity dictates that the Office of the Ombudsman be tasked to conduct the preliminary investigation of this case.”
“Since the Office of the Ombudsman is granted by law the power to investigate and prosecute any act or omission of any public officer or employee, it necessarily has jurisdiction to conduct preliminary investigation on this case against Teves Jr., who is an elected public official as congressman in the third district of Negros Oriental,” he said.
“It will be a mockery of justice if this panel of prosecutors will continue this preliminary investigation since they lack the trust and confidence required by jurisprudence as the basic tenet of an impartial judge. Without this trust and confidence reposed in them, any resolution in the determination of probable cause is illusory,” he said.
At the same time, Topacio said the DOJ has violated the rights of Teves due to pronouncements made byRemulla over the involvement of the lawmaker in the crime.
“Since Secretary Remulla’s pronouncements are considered as that of the department, being its secretary, the Department of Justice, is therefore guilty of condemning Teves Jr. even before a case was filed. This panel of prosecutors should inhibit themselves from hearing this case as it is clearly an act of injustice which violates the constitutional right of Teves Jr. to due process,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has required the National Bureau of Investigation to comment on the petition for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus filed by the mother of Marvin Miranda, who was earlier tagged by Remulla as the “casting director” in the plot to kill Degamo.
The NBI has been given 10 days to comment on the petition filed by Conchita Miranda on behalf of her son, who has been charged with multiple murder, 13 counts of frustrated murder and four counts of attempted murder in connection with the killing of Degamo and nine others in March.
A writ of habeas corpus “is a writ directed to a person detaining another, commanding the former to produce the body of the latter at a designated time and place.” It extends “to all cases of illegal and arbitrary detention by which any person is deprived of his liberty….”
The petitioner, Conchita Miranda, also sought the issuance of a release order for Miranda as well as a protection order prohibiting the respondent NBI “from committing or attempting to commit any act violative of the rights” against him.
Miranda’s mother also asked theCourt to issue an order to suppress any evidence gathered during his illegal arrest.