MANILA, Philippines—Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile has joined calls for the resignation of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief for allegedly allowing former Batangas Governor Jose Antonio Leviste to leave his prison cell in Muntinlupa City.
“I think if I were to make a decision , he has to go,” Enrile told reporters on Monday when asked to react on BuCor director Ernesto Diokno’s decision to take a leave of absence while the Department of Justice (DoJ) is investigating the incident.
“When I was Secretary of Justice and there was a riot in Muntinlupa, I immediately relieved the head of the Bureau of Corrections,” said the Senate leader.
Enrile said there was no need to investigate the matter since it was very clear that Leviste, who was convicted for killing his aide four years ago, managed to slip out of the New Bilibid Prison.
“What is to be investigated? It’s very clear that the guy went out on his own,” he said.
“(It’s) not (because of) command responsibility. It’s a question of who is responsible for the bureau. Something happened. He cannot pass the buck on anybody and I’m sure that’s been going on,” he added.
Earlier, Senate Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada and Sen. Sergio Osmeña III called for the resignation of Diokno.
Meanwhile, with the DoJ and the House of Representatives holding separate investigations on the incident, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, chairman of the Senate justice committee, said his committee was no longer keen on conducting its own inquiry on the issue unless a member of the chamber calls for it.
So long as the concerned agencies were doing their jobs in investigating, Escudero said he saw no reason why the Senate should intervene.
“Kung iniimbestigahan at ginagawa ng mga ahensiya ng gobyerno ang kanilang trabaho, at wala namang reklamo sa imbestigasyon at sapat naman, hindi na dapat ito pasukan at pakialaman ng mga senador (If the concerned government agencies are doing their job of investigating and there are no complaints about the fairness of the investigations, the senators should no longer meddle),” Escudero said.