COVID as cover for Bilibid deaths? NBI tags 22 cops, docs

Facade of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), with the sign of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor). (Image from the BuCor website)

MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation found “criminal intent” in the deaths of eight high-profile inmates at New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in a span of three weeks in mid-2020, convicts who were earlier reported by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to be victims of Covid-19.

The NBI filed before the Department of Justice on Friday murder complaints against 22 personnel of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), including police officers and doctors assigned at NBP at the time of the inmates’ deaths.

“The [NBI-Death Investigation Division] agents discovered that there may be a system or a way to make it appear that the inmates had Covid-19 or make it appear that the inmates died of Covid-19. There was criminal intent,” NBI Deputy Director and spokesperson Ferdinand Lavin said in an interview on GMA News TV on Friday.

There were no BuCor personnel among the respondents named in the complaints.

Covid as cover-up

Based on its investigation, the bureau said, the Covid-19 pandemic was just used to cover up the inmates’ killings. It found inconsistencies and irregularities between the statements of the 22 NCRPO personnel and the affidavits executed by other NBP inmates, as well as records and security videos obtained from the national penitentiary.

From May to June 2020, the BuCor reported at least eight high-profile inmates dying one after another due to COVID-19 infection at the prison facility in Muntinlupa City.

The inmates were identified as Francis Go (who died on May 28, 2020), Shuli Zhang (May 30), Jimmy Ang (June 1), Eugene Chua (June 2), Benjamin Marcelo (June 2), Sherwin Sanchez (June 4), Amin Imam Boratong (June 5) and Willy Yang (June 17).

All of them were convicted of drug trafficking, except for Sanchez who was serving a sentence for murder.

According to the NBI-DID, the death of another high-profile inmate, Jaybee Sebastian, “bore none of the circumstances” found in the case of the eight other inmates. Sebastian, who was convicted for carnapping and kidnapping cases, died on July 18, 2020, due to Covid-19 complications, according to the BuCor.

Room transfers

The NBI probe found that the room assignments of the eight inmates at Site Harry, an isolation facility within NBP, were “according to the nature of their criminal conviction.”

“Immediately after the segregation and transfer to the ‘comfortable’ isolation room, the victims died,” it said.

On June 17, the NBI said, Yang and another inmate (who later agreed to turn witness) were asked by two of the respondents to undergo an ECG test before their transfer to another isolation room that, they were told, had an air-conditioning system, a bed and its own toilet.

The inmate pleaded to remain at Site Harry, while Yang, who agreed to the transfer, was pronounced dead later that night.

An ocular inspection conducted by NBI agents found that Site Harry did not have any isolation room that was air-conditioned.

Long wait

“This may well be the reason why our witnesses had not observed any ‘unusual’ situation while inside the isolation area, even when their rooms were only separated either by curtains or plywood,” the NBI-DID report said.

Investigators also learned that it took a long time before the eight inmates, who were supposedly in a medical emergency, were brought out of Site Harry to NBP hospital.

Marcelo, for example, was transferred from Site Harry “five hours” after an emergency call was supposedly made, while the other inmates who were in a similar situation waited for two hours to be released from the isolation site.

“The significant amount of time that passed before the needed medical intervention would have been given to victims makes any man of reasonable mind question the intent of the [respondents] in failing to immediately bring the victims to the nearest medical facility,” the report said.

The deceased inmates were declared dead on arrival at NBP hospital, where the cause of their death was listed as “cardio or pulmonary arrest.” The records also described them to be “gasping for air” or having “difficulty in breathing” before they expired.

Except for Boratong, a Muslim, who was buried in Bulacan province, the inmates’ remains were immediately cremated in compliance with pandemic protocols for Covid-19 deaths, hence there were no autopsies conducted.

No symptoms

According to the NBI, however, “a close examination [of)]the medical profile of the deceased … generally revealed that days before they died, they exhibited neither chronic symptoms of Covid-19, including difficulty in breathing or shortness of breath, nor were they observed to be weak or particularly ill.”

Witnesses said they actually appeared “well,” “normal,” or “lively,” the bureau noted.

A review of NBP security videos also found that the remains of Zhang, Ang and Yang were already in black body bags—meaning, that they were already lifeless—when brought out from Site Harry to the NBP hospital, it added.

On the other hand, there was no CCTV footage showing the transfer of Boratong to NBP hospital at the time the NCRPO reported his emergency around 7 a.m. on June 5, 2020.

Guevarra order

The NBI conducted an investigation upon the orders of then Justice Secretary Menardo Guevara in July 2020.

Guevarra called for the probe following the death of Sebastian, who state prosecutors considered to be a key witness in the drug trafficking charges against former Sen. Leila de Lima.

In a statement issued from her detention cell at Camp Crame, De Lima said the NBI probe confirmed her earlier suspicions about the “mysterious deaths” of eight high-profile inmates.

“I dare add, as I’ve always believed based on credible info, that Sebastian had to be silenced for good to prevent him from recanting his statements falsely implicating me,” she said.

De Lima, however, wondered why there were no BuCor personnel being implicated in the cover-up of the inmates’ “deliberate killings.”

“Salute to NBI for its courage in disclosing these bombshell findings of deliberate killings. We discern here a cover-up by NCRPO and BuCor authorities,” said De Lima, a former justice secretary.

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