Jaybee Sebastian may still testify in House

CONVICTED kidnapper and car thief Jaybee Sebastian, described as the top narcotics kingpin in New Bilibid Prison (NBP), may appear in the congressional hearing next week if he has recovered from stab wounds in on Wednesday’s prison riot, Rep. Reynaldo Umali said.

“If his injuries are not debilitating, he must appear,” said Umali, chair of the House of Representatives justice committee. “But if they are debilitating and he can’t really come, probably we can spare him for the next hearing.”

Sebastian supplied information that led to a raid on NBP in December 2014, purportedly aimed at dismantling drug syndicates in the facility, according to Sen. Leila de Lima. Then the justice secretary, De Lima conducted the raid and transferred 19 top drug lords to the National Bureau of Investigation detention center.

During a two-day hearing last week, the committee heard testimony from several drug lords neutralized and sent to the NBI by De Lima that the move made Sebastian the top drug lord in NBP, controlling billions of pesos worth of the illegal trade outside the prison walls using cell phones.

Convicted kidnapper Herbert Colanggo and several of his fellow inmates named Sebastian as De Lima’s favored drug lord in the NBP, which had been turned into the nerve center of a nationwide illegal drug operation.

He said Sebastian raised funds for De Lima’s senatorial bid in May. De Lima has denied the allegation.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez told reporters in a chance interview there were forces who did not want Sebastian to testify. “We will look at the motives of those who don’t want the truth to be known,” he said.

“I don’t think [it’s a normal riot]. Why after all those years, they would riot and kill each other now, targeting even the resource persons identified by the committee on justice?” Alvarez said.

Asked if the incident might be connected to the House probe scheduled to resume on Oct. 5, he admitted he had no personal knowledge, “but there is always that possibility.”

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II earlier said Sebastian might be called as a witness before the committee but later said the inmate wished to restrict his testimony to food supply in NBP—an arrangement he did not agree to.

Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque said he would ask the NBI and the Philippine National Police to look into De Lima’s possible involvement in the rioting.

“So far, most of the witnesses that have appeared in the House have only said damning things about Leila de Lima,” an angry Roque said at a press conference.

Roque said that the senator’s “possible involvement in what happened in Muntinlupa deprived the committee of a material witness.”

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