Diokno suspension sought

MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila de Lima would have wanted Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director Ernesto Diokno put on preventive suspension for former Batangas Governor Antonio Leviste’s alleged abuse of his “living out” arrangement at the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP).

But Diokno is an appointee of President Benigno Aquino III, and he has a right to due process, De Lima yesterday pointed out to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “I can only recommend his preventive suspension to the President, who has disciplinary powers over [him],” she said.

In a chance interview with reporters, De Lima said she also had to wait for the recommendations of the fact-finding panel that she had formed to look into Leviste’s “caper.”

Today at 8 a.m., the panel is to begin an ocular inspection of the NBP’s minimum security compound, where Leviste was supposed to be staying as part of his “living out” arrangement.

Leviste was sentenced in September 2009 to 6-12 years in prison for killing his longtime aide and friend Rafael de las Alas in 2007. He was arrested last Wednesday outside the family-owned LPL Building in Makati City for leaving the national penitentiary without a permit.

Yesterday, the former governor was charged with evasion of service of sentence in the Makati Metropolitan Trial Court (MMTC). His driver, Nilo Solis, was also charged as an accomplice.

If the court finds Leviste guilty of the new charge, 6-12 more years will be added to his existing prison sentence.

More than a warning

Asked why she would have wanted Diokno put on preventive suspension right away, De Lima said: “If you know that things like that happen within your area of responsibility, you should have done something at first instance more than just giving a warning to the inmate.

“The warning and, much better, sanctions on the guard and on the officials having direct supervision [on them] should have been immediately imposed.”

De Lima said Diokno should be able to explain to the fact-finding panel the steps he purportedly took when he heard the rumors of Leviste’s regular trips out of the NBP.

Diokno is among the officials to be summoned by the panel for its marathon hearings on May 23-25 at the Department of Justice.

De Lima said it was “not remote” that the panel would recommend Diokno’s preventive suspension.

Should it recommend administrative charges against him, it is the Office of the President that will have jurisdiction over him, she said.

No duplication

In the department order she issued on Thursday, De Lima said the fact-finding panel’s inquiry “shall include a determination of whether the caper of Mr. Leviste was not the first time.”

The panel is headed by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Susan Dacanay, with Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Ma. Emilia Victorio, National Bureau of Investigation Deputy Director Ruel Lasala, and State Counsel Wilberto Tolitol and Charlene Mae Tapic as members.

De Lima said she expected a report from the panel within five days after the completion of the inquiry. She said she had instructed Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, who was tasked to oversee the investigation, to order the termination of the BuCor’s internal probe of the matter to avoid “duplication and overlapping.”

“The [justice department’s probe] is independent … The internal investigation would not be credible. Whatever is the outcome, whether correct or not, would be subject to suspicion and also because of the potential culpability of the officers [in the BuCor], including Director Diokno himself. It doesn’t make sense that there’s a duplication of efforts. We will do the investigation so there won’t be a conflict,” De Lima said.

Asked about the President’s reported close ties with Diokno, De Lima said she believed that it was “a nonissue” as of now.

Benefit of the doubt

“At this point, let’s give everyone the benefit of the doubt,” De Lima said.

She noted that the reported close friendship between the two men could be an issue “if, let’s say, the results of the investigation and even the formal administrative proceedings would confirm the culpability of Director Diokno, and then the President would be indecisive on the matter or dilly-dally.”

“The issue against [Mr. Aquino] could be revived,” De Lima  said. “Remember what happened in the [August 2010] hostage-taking? The IIRC (Incident Investigation and Review Committee) report? People have cast aspersions on that, that there’s this [perception] that he is protective of his allies.”

De Lima said she wanted no repetition of the issue.

“I fully support the President. As a subordinate and alter ego of the President, I do not want that to be another issue,” she declared.

Monday raffle

The MMTC is to raffle off Leviste’s case for court assignment on Monday at 2 p.m., according to court docket division head Jimmy de Castro.

In the charge sheet, Senior State Prosecutor Lilian Doris Alejo said that Leviste “knowingly, willfully and feloniously, escaped his confinement … as he was seen and arrested outside the LPL Building along Gallardo Street, Legaspi Village, Makati City.”

Alejo also presided over the inquest proceedings on Thursday. In her two-page resolution, she said probable cause was found to charge Leviste in court for the offense because he was “seen and arrested in Makati City on May 18, 2011, which is definitely outside the confines of the [NBP], located in Muntinlupa City.”

“All elements of the offense being present, there is probable cause to hold the respondent Leviste liable,” she said. With a report from Penelope Endozo