The New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa. (File photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros wants the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the allegation of a jail inmate that high-profile prisoners who died at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) were killed and not COVID-19 patients.
“These concerns are not just alarming but strike at the heart of our criminal justice system,” Hontiveros said in a statement issued on Wednesday. “I call on the DOJ to immediately investigate these serious revelations even if it will eventually mean a total overhaul of our correctional system.”
Hontiveros also urged her Senate colleagues to investigate the matter.
“Let us exercise our oversight powers, investigate where necessary, and uncover gaps that we can cure with remedial legislation,” she said.
The opposition senator made the remark after GMA News reported that detainee Rodel Tiaga claimed to have witnessed the murder of alleged drug lord Eugene Chua at Site Harry, a quarantine facility at the NBP for COVID-19 patients.
Chua’s medical certificate shows that he died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to COVID-19 on June 2, 2020. But the GMA report said he allegedly suffocated with a plastic bag.
The National Bureau of Investigation found “criminal intent” in the deaths of eight high-profile inmates at Bilibid in a span of three weeks in mid-2020. They had been earlier reported by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) as victims of COVID-19.
This prompted the NBI to file before the Department of Justice on Friday murder complaints against 22 personnel of the National Capital Region Police Office, including police officers and doctors assigned at NBP at the time of the inmates’ deaths.
“We will no longer allow a cover-up. No more Wild Wild West inside our correctional facilities,” Hontiveros said in Filipino.