Diokno won’t quit, says he’s not guilty

MANILA, Philippines—Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director Ernesto Diokno, on leave in the face of the controversy over the privileges enjoyed by wealthy inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), on Tuesday dug in and declared that he did not intend to quit.

Diokno said he had no “direct responsibility” over former Batangas Gov. Antonio Leviste and other wealthy inmates on “living out” and “sleeping out” arrangements at the national penitentiary.

“I will not resign from my post. I am not guilty,” he said in an interview with Chona Yu of Radyo Inquirer. “I am at the NBP for policymaking, as a policymaker. That is my marching order. What they’re saying about command responsibility does not apply to me.”

Diokno, a former Manila chief of police, was appointed to his post last year by President Aquino.

He went on a leave of absence on Monday as the fact-finding panel formed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima began an inquiry into the perks enjoyed by Leviste and other wealthy inmates at the NBP.

The investigation was prompted by Leviste’s arrest on May 18 in Makati City. The former governor was found guilty of homicide in 2009 and sentenced to 6-12 years in prison for the fatal shooting of his aide, Rafael de las Alas, in 2007.

Mr. Aquino had earlier summoned Diokno and expressed dismay at his explanation on Leviste’s circumstances in prison.

Asked Tuesday what Malacañang thought of calls for Diokno to step down, Abigail Valte, the President’s deputy spokesperson, said: “Every time we are asked about an official’s resignation, we always say that resignation is the option of the official concerned. We don’t want … to interfere in the personal decision of an official.”

Valte also said Diokno should be “afforded due process.”

‘Daang matuwid’

Diokno said that when he assumed the BuCor directorship last year, his first order was to cancel all the perks enjoyed by prisoners.

“Those VIP prisoners, I had their privileges canceled—the air-conditioning, the use of cell phones, everything,” he said.

Diokno said he had wanted to reform the NBP as well as the other penal colonies under the BuCor as ordered by the President.

“Nasa daang matuwid na tayo (We’re on the straight path now),” he said in an interview with Ramon Tulfo, also on Radyo Inquirer.

He also said a “syndicate” in the NBP was behind the calls for his resignation.

Diokno is scheduled to face the justice department’s fact-finding panel on Wednesday.

Until then, he said he was enjoying his leave of absence by looking after his three grandchildren.

“We’re having fun. I’m making the most of it. I don’t play golf, so I’m just here at home [watching my grandchildren play video games],” he told Radyo Inquirer.

Trust and confidence

At Tuesday’s hearing of the fact-finding panel, prison guard Fortunato Justo, who is in charge of the custody of Leviste, admitted that he did not strictly monitor the moves and whereabouts of the former governor.

He said he had 21 other “sleeping out” and “living out” prisoners in his custody and was only required to conduct a head count thrice daily—in the morning, at lunchtime and in the afternoon.

A “sleeping out” prisoner is not required to sleep in his cell and spends nights in his own hut within the NBP compound. A “living out” prisoner is allowed to go out of his cell but is required to return at the end of the day.

Asked if he had been able to do his job guarding the prisoners under his care, Justo said: “We just give them our trust and confidence.

“I can’t do anything about it. It’s the requirements of the job. I just obey them.”

The guard added that it was he himself who went around the NBP agro-farm compound to conduct the head count by looking for the prisoners one by one.

Thick foliage

Justo said that by the time Leviste was said to have vanished from the NBP compound at 4:15 p.m. on May 18, he was in the tree nursery where the foliage was thick.

He said Leviste was still present when he conducted a head count at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Justo said he reported Leviste’s disappearance to the BuCor Reservation Support Service, whose personnel were also in charge of securing the NBP and its “sleeping out” and “living out” prisoners.

He said he was still looking for Leviste by 9 p.m., not knowing that homicide convict was arrested in Makati at 5:30 p.m.

“The foliage was thick at the nursery project. Leviste’s hut was about 200 meters away and blocked by trees,” Justo replied when told by the panel of Leviste’s claim during the first hearing that he had been looking for the guard.

“When I returned [after filing the report on the 4 p.m. head count], he was no longer there. I asked his companions where he was and to find him, but he was no longer around,” Justo said.

But panel member Wilberto Tolitol disputed Justo and said he and the other panel members observed on Saturday that the foliage was not that thick.

“Tell us, how did you know [Leviste] was gone? Did you learn it from the television? Because what are you telling us and what you said in your incident report are different. Which of them is true?” Tolitol said.

BuCor Love Foundation

Justo described Leviste as “kind,” adding that the convict sometimes performed magic tricks.

He said it was he who had recommended the deployment at the agro-farm of eight prisoners chosen by a group called the “BuCor Love Foundation.”

He also said the foundation was known for its tree-planting activities, and that he thought the prisoners would do well in the project.

Under intense questioning, Justo admitted that he had no authority to make such a recommendation.

Tolitol later told him that the foundation had links with Leviste and that it was possible the former governor was the one who had recommended that the eight prisoners be granted “sleeping out” status.

The panel also uncovered that when the recommendation document for the eight was issued, Leviste’s name was included on the list.

Wilson Marquez and Insp. Artemio Martin, the chief of the agro-production section and the chief overseer of the minimum-security camp, respectively, both claimed that it was former NBP Superintendent Armando Miranda who had recommended Leviste’s inclusion.

Miranda’s successor, Ramon Reyes, confirmed this.

Marquez also said that being a civilian, he had no say on the deployment of the eight prisoners and that he was “bypassed.”

But he admitted that it was he who had made a similar request for Leviste on “the verbal instruction of Superintendent Miranda.”

Diokno has ordered Justo relieved of his post. Relieved as well were his immediate superior, Superintendent Roberto Rabo; prison guards Francisco Liwanag and Hilario Panaguiton; their superior Cruz; and Marquez.

Administrative lapses

After the hearing, the panel chair, Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, said he and his colleagues believed that from the testimony of the prison officials and guards, administrative lapses had been committed.

“It’s impossible for [Leviste] to have such great privileges without corruption involved,” Baraan said.

He said those who were in charge of Leviste’s custody might be charged with infidelity in the custody of a prisoner. With a report from Christine O. Avendaño