MANILA, Philippines -- The axed director of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) on Thursday disclaimed responsibility for Romeo Jalosjos’ unhampered departure from the national penitentiary and subsequent flight to Zamboanga del Norte on Dec. 22.

In a phone interview, Ricardo Dapat claimed that the convicted child rapist and ex-lawmaker had actually escaped: “Tumakas siya nun. It was not that difficult for him because he was already a living-out prisoner.”

Dapat pointed out that he had prevented Jalosjos from leaving the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City earlier on the basis of a purported release order.

“Pinigilan natin yan nung Dec. 16. Wala pa talaga yung release order niya,” he said.

Asked to confirm the discharge certificate that Jalosjos had shown reporters, he said: “That is not valid. It is only a xeroxed copy, and the original is still with the BuCor administration [office].”

He said the actual discharge certificate had yet to be issued because he was just about to sign it.

In an interview with the ABS-CBN News Channel, Dapat said the office of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita had known about Jalosjos’ Dec. 16 release date as early as June 12.

He said two of his staff members talked to Edwin Enrile, a lawyer at Ermita’s office, about the completion of Jalosjos’ sentence.

Dapat quoted Enrile as telling him and his staffers: “Wala na tayong magagawa kung yun ang computation ng bureau. Basta huwag lang lumabas sa media (We can’t do anything about it if that’s the bureau’s computation. Just don’t leak it to the media).”

Malacañang was quick to deny that it had ordered Jalosjos’ release. Anthony Golez, deputy spokesperson of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said he and other Palace officials were at a loss as to why Dapat was “fabricating stories.”

‘Sacrificial lamb’

On Wednesday, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez announced that Ms Arroyo had appointed Oscar Calderon, a former chief of the Philippine National Police, to replace Dapat as BuCor director.

Asked by the Philippine Daily Inquirer if he was the “sacrificial lamb” in the case, Dapat said: “Lahat ginawa ko, pero tumakas siya (I did everything but Jalosjos escaped). The perception is that I was relieved because of negligence. Wala akong kasalanan diyan (I am not at fault in this case).”

He said that on the night of Dec. 21, he even ordered some prison guards to check if Jalosjos was at his quarters near the NBP tennis court.

Dapat, whose term as BuCor director lasted only five months, apologized for not taking phone calls from reporters the past week. He explained that he was then still covered by a gag order issued by the Department of Justice (DoJ).

Asked if he planned to work for the government again, he replied in the negative and said he would return to private life.

But Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz told the Inquirer that Dapat’s immediate subordinates should also be replaced “because it is not possible that the head will be chopped off while the arms and legs remain alive.”

Cruz said replacing the other BuCor officials would be a chance for Ms Arroyo to clean up the NBP. He said it was an “open secret” that many prominent inmates enjoyed special privileges.

70 and above

Malacañang has repeatedly said Ms Arroyo’s policy was that only prisoners aged 70 and above may be released. Jalosjos turns 70 in 2010.

A political ally of the President, Jalosjos was convicted in 1997 of the statutory rape of an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to two life terms. In April, his sentence was commuted by Ms Arroyo to 16 years.

He walked out of the NBP on Dec. 16 by virtue of a discharge certificate signed by the NBP head, Supt. Juanito Leopando. Gonzalez subsequently ordered a review of the computation of the convict’s remaining time in prison.

Jalosjos returned to the NBP, heeding the request of Dapat and Leopando to do so while the issue was being resolved.

But he insisted that he was now a free man, and threatened to sue the DoJ if it did not speedily resolve his case and if the government refused to “respect the release order.”

On Dec. 22, Jalosjos flew to his home province of Zamboanga del Norte. He was rearrested early the next day, and is being held at the San Ramon Penal Colony, some 30 kilometers from Zamboanga City.

‘Ministerial’ duty

Dapat maintained on Thursday that Jalosjos’ sentence was to have expired on Dec. 16 based on then BuCor Director Vicente Vinarao’s computation.

“My duty is purely ministerial,” Dapat told the Inquirer newspaper, parent company of INQUIRER.net. “It was the past directors who granted Jalosjos the [living-out] status and the good-conduct time allowance, not I. So the expiration [of his sentence] was really on Dec. 16.”

In earlier interviews, Vinarao said he had asked for written guidance from the DoJ regarding Jalosjos’ completion of sentence, to no avail.

Dapat said it was not within the BuCor’s jurisdiction to resolve the issue of Jalosjos’ remaining time in prison, and that it was the DoJ that should resolve the question on the computation.

He also said that had Jalosjos’ Dec. 16 release been official, the convict would have been set free the next day, a Monday.

“[The prisoner] would have had to undergo clearance first at the separation center, which does not have office hours on Sundays,” Dapat said.

He added that like any other prisoner due for release, Jalosjos would have been made to undergo fingerprinting, documentation and identification, as well as a medical checkup.

‘Never’

“The Palace never ordered the release of former Rep. Romeo Jalosjos,” Golez said in a statement and in an interview with reporters.

This was echoed by Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol, who told reporters: “The Palace will not react this way if it was aware of the projected release [of Jalosjos] last Dec. 16.”

Apostol said it was a case of sour grapes on Dapat’s part: “When you are removed, you keep on blaming [other] people.”

Golez issued the reminder that the DoJ was investigating the BuCor’s action of releasing Jalosjos, and that the commutation order on the convict would “make him eligible for release at age 70.”

Apostol said that according to the Justice secretary, Jalosjos had not fully served his sentence, which was why he had to stay in prison.

And Dapat lost his job because he did not coordinate his release of Jalosjos with the DoJ, Apostol said.

This lack of coordination was the reason the DoJ and BuCor were now in “conflict” and “disagreement,” he said, adding:

“The BuCor is saying they have their own rules, which were not approved by the DoJ.”

Apostol said the DoJ was “just following the provisions of the Revised Penal Code” in rejecting the BuCor’s release order on Jalosjos.

He acknowledged that the BuCor had the “right” to release prisoners. Nevertheless, it should coordinate with the DoJ, which has “administrative supervision” over it, he said.

Prisoner inventory

Calderon, the new BuCor director, said bureau officials were now preparing a list of prisoners aged 70 and above in order to facilitate their release.

“Our government has a policy of releasing elderly prisoners. Releasing them would help decongest our prisons as well,” he said in a phone interview.

In October, Dapat said he had forwarded to the Bureau of Pardons and Parole the cases of 200 inmates eligible for release, as ordered by Malacañang.

Early this month, NBP chaplain Robert Olaguer broke the news that Jalosjos was set for release on Dec. 16, and Norberto Manero, convicted of killing an Italian priest, on Jan. 10.

Asked if Manero would be still freed in January, Calderon said: “I have not yet reviewed his papers. So we don’t have a specific date. I have not yet received an order from the [DoJ] regarding that.” With a report from Beverly T. Natividad