Biazon urges BuCor to divulge info on inmate deaths at Bilibid

Muntinlupa City Representative Ruffy Biazon on Tuesday urged the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to divulge information on the deaths of inmates at the National Bilibid Prison (NBP).

Biazon made the remark after BuCor chief Gerald Bantag confirmed that there have been persons deprived of liberty (PDL) at the NBP who have died due to COVID-19, although he could not disclose their names supposedly in accordance with the Data Privacy Act.

A total of 21 inmates from the national penitentiary who tested positive for COVID-19  have already died since March, Bantag confirmed to the Department of Justice Monday.

In a statement, Biazon, whose legislative district covers the NBP, said the deaths of inmates under government custody, whether or not they are convicted of a crime, must not be masked under the Data Privacy Act.

"The family of the person, and even the public, has a right to know if the deaths that occurred in a government facility was of natural causes or wrongdoing," he said.

"Most of all, circumstances of the death of any person deprived of liberty under the custody of government should never be hidden, and no excuse to conceal it, should ever be accepted," he added.

According to Biazon, only the person himself or herself, or his or her relatives could invoke privacy under the Data Privacy Act.

In the case of death of an inmate, the person convicted obviously cannot invoke privacy, and their family would most likely want to know how the person died, he said.

Biazon also reminded BuCor that it has a mandate of "safekeeping of national inmates" under its charter, Republic Act 10575.

He said that under the law, safekeeping is defined as "the act that ensures the public (including families of inmates and their victims) that national inmates are provided with their basic needs, completely incapacitated from further committing criminal acts, and have been totally cut off from their criminal networks (or contacts in the free society) while serving sentence inside the premises of the national penitentiary.”

"It is clear that in the performance of that mandate to safekeep the inmates, the BuCor has an obligation to the public. Clearly, the Data Privacy Act excludes the performance of that function from its scope," Biazon said.

"There is no hindrance for the Bureau to withhold information about the deaths of inmates in their custody," he added.

On Saturday, NBP inmate Jaybee Sebastian died at the NBP Hospital due to acute myocardial infarction as a complication of COVID-19.

No autopsy was done on the body, and his remains were cremated in a crematorium in Cavite.

 —AOL, GMA News