Bantag willing to be sacked over Bilibid deaths controversy

Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag on Thursday said he is willing to be removed from his job amid the controversy involving the deaths of several inmates, including high-profile ones, from COVID-19 at the national penitentiary.

Interviewed on Dobol B sa News TV, Bantag responded to the statement of Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon that he is inclined to call for his (Bantag's) removal from BuCor.

“Kung wala silang tiwala, sa akin na lang mismo sabihin na natin, eh tanggalin na ako. Willing naman tayo. Ang sakit nga sa ulo dito,” he said.

On Wednesday, Senator Richard Gordon, chair of the blue ribbon and justice committees, said BuCor officials cannot expect that the public would simply accept their claim that 21 inmates died of COVID-19.

Drilon, meanwhile, said he is inclined to call for the removal of Bantag for withholding information about the alleged COVID-19 deaths in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

Bantag has repeatedly invoked the Data Privacy Act when asked about the identities of the COVID-19 fatalities at NBP. He argued that they already sent reports about the deaths of these inmates to the Department of Health and Department of Justice.

Due to the past controversies involving BuCor, the two senators pointed out that there is no more presumption of regularity for BuCor.

“Mali naman 'yun, kaya nga tayo nilagay dito e,” Bantag said.

BuCor earlier reported that 21 NBP inmates have already died due to COVID-19. Among these was Jaybee Sebastian, who testified against detained Senator Leila de Lima at a congressional hearing in 2016 regarding the alleged illegal drug trade inside the national penitentiary.

Speculations have it that the deaths were either faked in order to release the high-profile prisoners in exchange for huge sums of cash, or they were executed.

Bantag dismissed these speculations. The BuCor has earlier presented photos of Sebastian's corpse amid speculations that he was secretly set free. —KBK, GMA News