DOJ: VIP drug convict can be sent to ‘bartolina’ over unauthorized hospital stay

A convicted high-profile drug lord at the New Bilibid Prison can end up in an isolation cell, commonly known as a "bartolina" - far away from from his fellow prisoners - if it is proven he was confined outside the national penitentiary without the necessary permit.

According to Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, this is the fate that could await Ricardo Camata, who was brought to the Metropolitan Hospital in Manila over the weekend supposedly due to a lung ailment.

"Aalamin namin kung kailangan ba siyang i-disiplina... At kung kailangan bang i-bartolina o i-isolate," Baraan told reporters.

"Ang isang inmate kasi, kung mayroon siyang good behavior, nababawasan ang kanyang number of years or time in prison... But I don't know if he is entitled (to deductions) kasi life sentence ito. It's an indivisible penalty," Baraan added.

Investigation ongoing

Baraan is currently investigating the incident, and is expected to come out with a report by Friday. Baraan said Camata was not given permission by the DOJ but was still able to go out of the NBP only through a doctor's referral. Baraan said the DOJ only issues permits for emergency or life-threatening situations.

He said he has already sent a memorandum seeking an explanation from relieved NBP superintendent Fajardo Lansangan and doctors at the NBP, who referred Camata to a private hospital.

"Sa hospital referral ni Camata, for consultation sa isang pulmonologist. Consultation lang. Ano ang emergency dun? So from Bilibid to Sta. Cruz, Manila, more than one hour na ibinyahe siya," Baraan said.

Baraan said he would try to determine if Camata had any purpose in having himself confined outside the NBP other than seeking medical attention.

"It's a big possibility that they still ply their (drug) trade. Sa nakita namin sa video, na naka-cellphone at freely texting siya. That's a complete no-no dapat," said Baraan.

An earlier report quoted a police source as saying a "starlet and television dancers" had been spotted being brought to Camata's hospital room for two successive nights.

Baraan confirmed that several individuals were able to visit Camata at the hospital, including two men and a woman on May 31. Two more women and a man visited him on June 1.

He also identified the woman who visited on May 31 as showbiz personality Krista Miller. Baraan said Camata himself told him about Miller's visit. The male visitors as well as the two other women have yet to be identified.

Baraan said he is still trying to determine the "nature" of the visits but revealed that one of the female visitors stayed in Camata's hospital room "until the wee hours" of June 2.

Baraan also said the DOJ may invite Miller for the investigation, as well as those others seen in the closed-circuit television footage once they are identified. "But the video is already enough," Baraan said.

Apart from superintendent Lansangan, 12 NBP jail guards were relieved over the incident, pending completion of the investigation.

Asked why no one at the Bureau of Corrections, which supervises the NBP, was relieved over the incident, Baraan said: "Kasi mga taga-NBP ang directly responsible diyan muna. Kasi ang control ng NBP maximum ay nasa superintendent, hindi sa (BuCor) director."

Hospital stays for high-profile convicts

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima earlier ordered the investigation in light of separate reports that Camata and another drug convict, Amin Buratong, and bank robbery gang leader Herbert Colangco had been allowed to go to private hospitals outside the NBP last month.
 
Buratong, who owned and operated a P900-million, 2,000-sq-meter "shabu tiangge" in Pasig City, was reported to have been brought to the Medical City in Pasig City on May 13 supposedly due to a coronary artery disease and a liver ailment.
 
Colangco, meanwhile, was brought to the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Alabang, Muntinlupa on May 27. Colangco is behind the robbery heists in Pampanga in 2003 and in Parañaque and Quezon City in 2005. — JDS, GMA News