Jose Adrian Dera (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — Branch 304 of the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court has granted the request of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to transfer controversial inmate Jose Adrian Dera, a drug suspect detained at the National Bureau of Investigation, to another facility “for safety and security reasons.”
In a memorandum dated July 3, the court issued a commitment order authorizing Dera’s transfer to the Muntinlupa City Jail-Male Dormitory.
The DOJ made this request after Dera was arrested for unauthorized furlough last June 21. Dera was caught reentering the NBI detention facility in Manila while escorted by six NBI security personnel.
The drug suspect has been going in and out of jail allegedly, to fix the retraction of suspects in the assassination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo last year.
He was accused of corruption of public officials or employees, while the NBI personnel were charged with violations of the the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019).
Suspect on a ‘mission’
According to Department of Justice spokesperson Jose Dominic Clavano IV, Dera was found in possession of an undisclosed amount of cash, firearms, and a cellular phone.
Meanwhile, the court allowed Dera to attend a Senate hearing while escorted by the NBI’s chief of the security management section and the Muntinlupa jail warden.
At the panel’s hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Francis Tolentino, justice committee chair, confronted Dera over intelligence information that he has been going out of jail for a “mission” — to “facilitate” the retraction of suspects in the Degamo killing.
“There are reports, although unverified, that you were on a different mission for that trip to Makati, which [was] not just to dine out,” he said.
“I’m not accusing you, but the report is that you were involved in the turnaround and retraction of statements made by the [Degamo] assassination team,” Tolentino told Dera at the hearing.
Tolentino’s statement was confirmed by Clavano who claimed that Dera was tasked with bringing in “a certain amount” inside the NBI detention facility, purportedly for the suspects in the Degamo case, led by alleged ringleader Marvin Miranda.
But Clavano admitted that the NBI’s internal investigation division is still looking into the reported irregularity among its own personnel.
“Yes, there was [that report] that a certain amount was allegedly meant to be brought in. I believe we have the same source of information and this is what is being validated and endorsed to the NBI,” Clavano said.
Assisted by his lawyers, Dera gave a blanket denial of the report.