Santiago: DOJ cabal protecting ‘very important prisoners’

By: Maila Ager - 10 years ago

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. INQUIRER file photo.

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago suspects that there are “very high personnel” in the Department of Justice (DOJ) who are protecting drug lords doing businesses inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

And Santiago wants the DOJ to identify what she described as a “cabal” that may not be actively involved in this old system inside the NBP but has protected it from the start.

“That has been old hat. That’s news of very old standing; that means that every time there’s a change in leadership, that part of the detention center is left untouched and that means therefore that this system is protected by very high personnel up in the Justice Department because the Bureau of Prison is under the Department of Justice,” she said on Wednesday when asked for comment on the luxurious lifestyle of 19 high-profile convicts, which was only exposed when Justice Secretary Leila De Lima and a team from the National Bureau of Investigation swooped down the NBP last Monday.

“Of course, I don’t necessarily mean the Secretary of Justice but there is a (group of cabal) in the DOJ who make sure that people understand that they extend full protection to the men who conduct their business in the New Bilibid Prison,” she said.

Santiago said she had already recommended before to follow the procedure in the US, which allows a prisoner to pay for an “improved detention” but her proposal was not taken seriously.

“But this is done [in] the US,” she said.

“If you can’t prevent it, then you must mitigate it. This has been going on for perhaps decades and it has never been stopped, that means that’s institutionalized.

“And therefore, since there has been a dramatic disclosure of the present situation, it behooves the entire Justice Department to name and reveal the identity of those who are not actively involved in the system but have protected it from the very start,” the senator added.