Recto to BuCor: Show photos of inmates' cadavers to DOJ to address speculations

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Tuesday said the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) could simply show the photos of the bodies of the deceased inmates who supposedly died due to COVID-19 to address different speculations once and for all.

"The proof of death is a photo of the body. If there is, then doubts will be laid to rest," Recto said in a statement.

He stressed that these do not need to be shown publicly.

"Simply show it to the Justice Secretary, and if he says that he had seen it, and swears that it is true, then we’ll take his word for it," he said.

"Kung mayroong CCTV footage of the body being brought out, the better. And why should there be none? A prison without surveillance cameras is like one without locks," he added.

Recto pointed out that if it's part of the standard operating procedures to take photos of inmates when they enter the Newl Bilibid Prison, they should also have one when they egress—dead or alive.

The death certificates and medical records would be important evidence too, he added.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Monday warned that allowing BuCor to deflect the demands for transparency on the deaths in the national penitentiary by invoking the Data Privacy Act could be dangerous.

"I am afraid it can be used to make prisoners disappear, cover up extra-judicial killings, and even to fake death," he said.

BuCor chief Gerald Bantag, who refused to disclose names of the deceased inmates, lamented that some high public officials are speculating on the deaths of high profile ones who were supposedly cremated after succumbing to COVID-19.

“Itong matataas na tao, nagsasalita ng mga ganyan ay huwag naman sanang bigyan ng pagdududa 'yung mga publiko. Hindi naman ito basta-bastang kaso,” Bantag said.

“Dapat nagtitiwala sila sa inilagay na tauhan ng gobyerno,” he added.

But Drilon said the burden of showing proof lies on the BuCor.

"Given the anomalies in the BuCor unearthed in the Senate hearings, we cannot help but suspect that faking deaths of prisoners can happen," he said in a message to reporters.

"The burden is on BuCor to present proof of regularity in the performance of its functions," he added.

Bantag appeared before the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday to explain the reported deaths of high-profile inmates at Bilibid due to COVID-19.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra already ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the issue.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III also filed a resolution seeking a Senate probe.

Over the weekend, a death certificate showed that a man named Jaybee Niño Sebastian has died and his remains were cremated in Cavite. 

A man by that name is one of the high-profile inmates of NBP.

Sebastian in 2016 tagged Senator Leila de Lima as a protector of the illegal drug operations inside the NBP. De Lima however, said Sebastian was “pressured” by authorities to pin her down.

In November 2016, Sebastian filed graft and criminal charges before the DOJ against De Lima and former Bureau of Corrections chief Ricardo Rainier Cruz and former NBP head Richard Schwarzkopf Jr. —KG, GMA News