DOJ probe panel to submit report on Leviste ‘caper’ today

MANILA, Philippines— (UPDATE) The Department of Justice fact-finding panel, which looked into the unauthorized trip of homicide convict and former Batangas governor Jose Antonio Leviste outside the state penitentiary, would submit its report to President Benigno Aquino III within the day, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Monday.

According to De Lima, she was already finishing the cover memorandum of the fact-finding report prepared by the five-member panel which conducted a three-day marathon investigation into the May 18 arrest of Leviste outside a building he owns in Makati City.

De Lima said that she added her “own insights and recommendations” but has fully adopted the recommendations of the panel.

“The report of the panel itself is prepared already. I’m just poring over it this morning. So what I can submit by noontime is the covering memorandum,” De Lima told reporters.

She, however, declined to divulge the contents of the report pending the President’s review.

She said she sent a text message to Mr. Aquino informing him that the report was already available and that she would furnish him a copy by around noon.

“He’s expecting it. He wants to see that and he needs to act on it before his trip to Brunei (on Tuesday),” De Lima said.

Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, who was tasked by De Lima to oversee the fact-finding investigation, said the panel submitted its recommendations to the justice secretary on Saturday.

Baraan said that they have recommended the filing of a criminal case against a prison officer as well as an administrative complaint against 10 officials. However, he refused to disclose if New Bilibid Prisons Chief Ernesto Diokno was among the officials, noting that he is a presidential appointee.

“The report contains the recommendations. It was prepared in such a way that the President will be guided accordingly,” Baraan told the INQUIRER.

Baraan told Radyo Inquirer in an interview last Friday that they would have recommendations on each person they have summoned during their clarificatory hearing, including New Bilibid Prisons Chief  Ernesto Diokno.

He added that they will also ask the military to temporarily secure the NBP premises while prison guards are undergoing re-orientation.

The NBP compound, especially the Minimum Security Compound, was difficult to secure, Baraan said.

During a hearing by the panel, NBP Custodian Fortunato Justo said there are 400 inmates accorded living out privileges and 109 with sleep out status.

Under the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) scheme, convicts who enjoy “living-out” privileges are allowed to roam the NBP compound during daytime as part of the program to help them reintegrate into society. They, however, have to go back to the minimum security prison during the night.

“Sleep-out” inmates, on the other hand, can spend the night in private, away from their prison cells at the minimum security compound but still within the NBP reservation.

Originally posted at 11:56 am| Monday, May 30, 2011