De Lima visits convicted killer Rolito Go to determine veracity of abduction

Justice Secretary Leila De Lima on Thursday evening visited murder convict Rolito Go to determine for herself whether the convict’s claim that he was abducted was true.

 

“Sa impormasyong nakarating sa atin, gusto raw ni De Lima na siya mismo ang makaalam kung totoo o hindi ang kwento ni Go na biktima siya ng abduction,” Cedric Castillo reported on GMA News TV program “State of the Nation.”

 

De Lima will temporarily oversee the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) after Director Gaudencio Pangilinan filed an indefinite leave pending an investigation on Go’s disappearance. 

 

The BuCor is an attached agency of the Justice Department, while the New Bilibid Prison is under the supervision of the BuCor.

 

De Lima will also manage the NBP directly until she appointments an officer-in-charge for the prison. 

 

"We'll try to get to the bottom of this. Saka titignan natin kung sino 'yung may mga responsibilities up to the position of the director," said Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III during the television report.  

 

It was likewise revealed that Go, who is suffering from Stage IV colon cancer, will not be billeted in a regular dormitory inside the NBP’s maximum security ward. Instead, he will be detained in the prison’s hospital.

 

Go, who disappeared Tuesday night, has been in the custody of the Philippine National Police since late Wednesday. He said that men claiming to be National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents abducted him. 

 

He also told the police that his alleged abductors took him and his nurse-nephew, Clemence Yu, to Sto. Tomas, Batangas. 

 

However, his supposed abductors later released them and gave them money for bus fare back to Manila.

 

The NBI is investigating Go’s claims. 

 

Yu’s car

 

In a separate report on GMA 7’s “24 Oras,” Raffy Tima reported that Yu’s car, which was allegedly used to whisk away the “victims,” was found around 6:30 a.m. in Sta. Elena, Sto. Tomas, Batangas. 

 

The car had no plate number and had a bullet hole in the roof, Tima said in the report.

 

Furthermore, a .45 caliber bullet casing was found inside the car. 

 

The vehicle is currently at the PNP Crime Laboratory in Camp San Vicente Lim, the television report said.

 

A businessman back in 1991, Go was convicted for murder after shooting to death college student Eldon Maguan in a fit of road rage. 

 

With his disappearance last Tuesday, Go’s chance to leave prison next year has been endangered. Go has been in prison for about 19 years and is set to be released in 2013 for his good conduct. — DVM, GMA News