NBP head, 12 guards axed over ‘starlet,’ ‘dancer’ scandal

By: Julliane Love De Jesus - 10 years ago

New Bilibid Prison FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–New Bilibid Prison (NBP) superintendent Fajardo Lansangan and 12 custodial NBP guards have been sacked following reports of special treatment given to high-profile convicts.

Lansangan and the guards were removed from their post for negligence of duty, Superintendent Celso Bravo, Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Office of the Assistant Director for Operations head, told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview on Wednesday.

Bravo said they received the administrative relief order‎ from Department of Justice (DOJ) Undersecretary Francisco Baraan.

Superintendent Robert Rabo will take over Lansangan’s post.

Rabo, then Officer-in-Charge of the Minimum Security Compound, was one of the NBP‎ officials dismissed from service for allowing former Batangas governor Antonio Leviste to freely leave his cell three times.

But Bravo said Rabo was cleared from the dismissal and was acquitted. He then headed the Sablayan Prison and Penal farm in Occidental Mindoro.

‎INQUIRER.net earlier reported that ‎a convicted drug lord and leader of Sigue Sigue Sputnik gang was rushed to Metropolitan Medical Center in Manila due to a lung ailment.

But a police source said “a starlet and television dancers” were able to visit and even spend the night inside Camata’s hospital ward.

The DOJ launched a probe on Tuesday to look into Camata’s stay in the hospital.

Earlier Wednesday, Bravo told INQUIRER.net‎ that 12 NBP custodial guards of Camata are being investigated for allowing the illegal visit.

It was also reported by a police source that several golf carts and electronic bikes were found inside the Maximum Security compound of Bilibid.

But the BuCor clarified that these were not used by alleged VIP inmates for leisure, but the vehicles were for patrolling and transporting visitors inside the nine-hectare compound.