NBP ‘sleep out’ canceled

MANILA, Philippines—It’s back to their cells for the night even for VIPs of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Tuesday said she would order officials of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to permanently stop the “sleep out” privilege enjoyed by VIP prisoners like former Batangas Gov. Antonio Leviste, whose foray outside the national penitentiary last month triggered the controversy that led to the crackdown.

De Lima made the announcement a day after Ernesto Diokno quit his post as BuCor director as a result of the controversy.

She said she would immediately issue a circular banning the grant of the “sleep out” privilege and providing guidelines on the “living out” privilege, and that Leviste had obviously abused such special practices.

“I think the ‘sleep out’ privilege … should not be adopted at all,” De Lima told reporters. “I may consider the ‘living out’ [privilege], but it should be written in the BuCor operating manual.”

“Living out” prisoners refer to those who are allowed to leave their cells by day. They are obliged to stay within the NBP compound and report back to their custodial guards in the afternoon.

Before his May 18 arrest outside the building he owns in Makati City, homicide convict Leviste and more than 100 “sleep out” prisoners were allowed to spend the night in their own huts outside the NBP’s minimum-security compound.

Diokno temporarily canceled the privilege after Leviste’s arrest.

‘Very selective’ system

Past officials arbitrarily granted certain inmates the privileges because the BuCor manual does not provide the necessary guidelines, according to De Lima.

She said allowing convicts to roam the NBP reservation for some hours of the day could help BuCor officials address the congestion problem there.

“The panel actually recommended the review, revisit and revision of the BuCor manual. We can place there clear guidelines, standards and parameters,” she said, referring to the fact-finding team that she had formed to investigate the Leviste “caper.”

De Lima said that while the panel did not find clear evidence of corruption, certain BuCor officials might have benefited financially from the grant of special privileges to VIP prisoners.

“Because everything is arbitrary and there is no clear system, you cannot dispute that there could be corruption. The system was very selective,” she said.

De Lima said she would also order the dismantling of the huts and other temporary quarters built by Leviste and other “sleep out” prisoners, including another convicted killer, Rolito Go.

“Having nipa huts was actually a greater privilege. We will include that in our review and our additional recommendations,” she said.

De Lima also clarified that the fact-finding panel had recommended the filing of administrative charges against five BuCor officials—not 10 as earlier reported—in connection with Leviste’s case.

She said she had recommended preventive suspension for the five officials whom she refused to name.

She added that she could not as yet disclose the contents of the fact-finding panel’s report because “the President said he wants a little more time to read it in full.”

Multiagency meeting

De Lima also told reporters that President Aquino might convene a multiagency meeting to discuss the problems besetting the penal system.

She said that apart from the special treatment accorded some VIP prisoners, Mr. Aquino wanted to address the worsening congestion and drug problems in jails nationwide.

“I expect the President to talk to me [when he returns from his trip to Brunei this week] about … the short-term plan with respect to the NBP, especially the jail congestion,” De Lima said.

“For me, the most serious problems that [we should address] are congestion and drug problems,” she said, adding that some jails were overpopulated by 300 percent.

De Lima said officials of the Department of Justice (DoJ) and its attached agencies, such as the BuCor, Parole and Probation Administration (PPA), and Board of Pardons and Parole, would be summoned to the meeting.

She said officials of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) would likewise be summoned.

The DILG has administrative supervision over the BJMP, which controls and manages all city and district jails nationwide.

Under the law, the provincial governments have control over provincial prison facilities.

De Lima said she also expected the President to seek her recommendations on who would replace Diokno.

She said PPA Administrator Manuel Co would continue to oversee NBP operations until the President names Diokno’s successor.

House hearing

At Tuesday’s hearing of the House committee on justice on at least three bills that seek to modernize and strengthen the BuCor, De Lima agreed that Diokno had preempted the President’s decision on Leviste’s case by resigning.

But she stressed that resignation had always been an option for Diokno, and that she herself had suggested this to him early on in order to spare the President from embarrassment.

The hearing was called to discuss the merits of House Bills Numbers 197, 712 and 4619, but the committee members present took the opportunity to ask De Lima about the results of the DoJ investigation.

De Lima begged off from talking at length about the fact-finding panel’s findings in deference to the President after Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., the committee chair, asked for a copy of its report.

The NBP chief, Supt. Ramon Reyes, told the committee that Leviste was not the only one granted special privileges. He said 109 and 419 inmates were enjoying “sleep out” and “living out” privileges, respectively, before these were canceled.

Reyes cited at least two incidents of Leviste leaving the NBP, but said he did not know of the latter’s privileges.

“I was the officer in charge of the Reception and Diagnostic Center. I have no knowledge of these [privileges]. We have a chain of command, so when I got assigned [there, the practice] was already going on,” he said.

‘Amazing’

Reyes said the “living out” privilege was in practice only in the minimum-security compound, where inmates were allowed to work within the NBP reservation as janitors, gardeners and mechanics.

But these inmates were required to come back at night, he said.

Asked why Leviste was allowed to stay in a hut in the NBP compound, Reyes said the former governor bought it from an inmate who had since been released.

The remark drew strong reactions from the committee members, who said that the hut should not have been allowed to be built, in the first place.

De Lima said the DoJ fact-finding panel had found it “amazing” that only Leviste took full responsibility for his unauthorized trip outside the prison last month.

“The ‘living out’ privilege, we can live with that. Maybe we can introduce that in the manual as policy and practice, but there ought to be clear guidelines. But definitely, the ‘sleep out’ privilege should be prohibited. No exception. Not acceptable,” she said.

Hardened criminals

Muntinlupa City Rep. Rodolfo Biazon said the case involving Leviste was a manifestation of the many problems besetting the BuCor.

Biazon said that as one of the major pillars of the justice system, the BuCor should be able to reform prisoners.

“It is believed that prisoners who are admitted in its facilities, instead of getting reformed, [become] hardened criminals,” he said.

He blamed this on the harsh living conditions in the prisons where survival was the name of the game.

“It is high time the BuCor and its facilities were transformed, in order that it may be able to carry out its function of reforming prisoners as productive members and assets of society once they get out of prison. Let us modernize the BuCor now,” Biazon said.