Solicitor General Jose Calida. GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer FILE PHOTO
BAGUIO CITY—The lead government lawyer, Solicitor General Jose Calida, has allowed convict Jaybee Sebastian, the most influential inmate at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), to return to the maximum security compound at the New Bilibid Prison in exchange for his testimony against Senator Leila de Lima, the camp of the detained senator revealed.
“The Solicitor General himself gave a new meaning to his title when he himself solicited testimony from Jaybee Sebastian implicating petitioner [De Lima] in the drug trade, in exchange for the latter’s transfer back to the maximum security compound of the New Bilibid Prison,” De Lima, through her lawyers led by former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, said in a memorandum submitted to the Supreme Court.
Sebastian, a convicted car thief, admitted during a congressional inquiry last year that he rallied the inmates to raise campaign funds for De Lima’s senatorial bid.
READ: Sebastian: De Lima was my protector in Bilibid drug trade
He said he ordered inmates to sell 5 to 30 kilos of shabu per month and the proceeds would be given to De Lima.
He is the head of the Presidio side in Bilibid composed of around 5,000 inmates mostly from Luzon and Chinese nationals.
He was stabbed during a riot last Sept. 28, 2016 inside Building 14 that houses high profile inmates, mostly drug lords.
READ: NBP riot: Drug lord killed; 4 wounded
Sebastian requested that he be transferred back to maximum security compound for fear of his life at Building 14 but Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said Sebastian only preferred the maximum compound because he still had pending collections from previous transactions.
Hilbay said a testimony against the senator was the quid pro quo for Sebastian’s request.
READ: Jaybee Sebastian a gov’t asset? Stupid, says Aguirre
Other inmates who testified against the senator are detained at the Intelligence Service for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP). But earlier reports say that the inmates at ISAFP managed to acquire mobile phones.
“The grant of prison privileges is the candy that is offered to these convicted criminals, in exchange for their fabricated testimonies against Petitioner [De Lima],” read the memorandum. IDL/rga