The House of Representatives' Committee on Justice is poised to look into the reported deaths of convicted high-profile drug lords and other inmates at the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP).
Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who is seeking the legislative investigation, said the Department of Justice confirmed on July 20 that nine prisoners, including Jaybee Sebastian — a convicted kidnapper and carjacker who served as a witness and co-accused in one of the drug cases against Sen. Leila de Lima — had died of COVID-19.
Rodriguez said based on Sebastian’s death certificate, the convict died of heart attack and COVID-19 was listed as among “other significant conditions contributing to death.”
Rodriguez filed House Resolution 1090 that directs the Committee on Justice to investigate the deaths of convicts at NBP.
This developed as Rizal Rep. Fidel Nograles, vice chairman of the House justice committee, lauded efforts of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) over the release of almost 22,000 detainees from facilities under the bureau.
Nogales said the release of the inmates will not only decongest jails but also help contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019.
The DILG announced earlier that the BJMP released 21,858 detainees from March 17 to July 13 in its 470 jail facilities nationwide.
BJMP manages jails that hold persons with pending criminal cases who are not allowed to post bail or who can not afford to do so, and those who were sentenced to short-term imprisonment.
The DILG also said there currently are 180 active COVID-19 cases in the facilities run by the BJMP, 126 of whom are detainees. The rest are jail guards.
A total of of 895 inmates and jail personnel have recovered, while 11 have died from the disease.
"The efforts of the BJMP and DILG to decongest the jails even as COVID-19 infections continue to rise. It is of paramount importance that we address the issue of our congested jails," said Nograles.
He added that two days before the DOJ confirmation, a list of Bilibid prisoners who reportedly succumbed to the coronavirus disease was “mysteriously circulated to journalists.”
Rodriguez, a senior vice chairman of the House committee on justice, added that the list included Benjamin Marcelo, leader of Chinese convicts at Bilibid, Zhang Zhu Li, Jimmy Kin Sing Hung, Francis Go, Jimmy Yang, Eugene Chua, Ryan Ong, and Amin Imam Buratong.
He pointed out that when asked about the list, Bureau of Corrections spokesman Gabriel Chaclag released a statement of BuCor chief Gerald Bantag, who admitted there had been deaths but refused to identify the dead purportedly because that is prohibited by the Data Privacy Law.
However, 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,” he said.
Rodriguez noted reports that the Pantheon de Dasmariñas in Dasmariñas City, Cavite had cremated 28 bodies since May, including those of Sebastian, Marcelo, Zhang, and Hung; while the Manila North Cemetery cremated a body identified as Eugene Chua.
He added that BuCor, to prove that the inmates had indeed died, presented to the media on July 22 copies of the death certificates of Boratong, Chua, Go, Marcelo, Yang, Zhang, and Sherwin Sanchez, and a notice of death for Hung Kin Sing, also known as Jimmy Ang, with the documents showing that the deaths occurred in May and June.
“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.
He said there were even reports of “body-switching, in which bodies of 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,” Rodriguez said.