Senator Win Gatchalian said it is hard to believe that all the convicted high-profile drug lords “disappeared like bubbles” while detained at the New Bilibid Prison after Bureau of Corrections officials reported they died of the coronavirus and were cremated.
“It’s doubtful because not only one but many drug lords died. They cannot be traced,” Gatchalian said on Friday.
“He should practice transparency and there should be a public disclosure,” Gatchalian said, referring to Bureau of Corrections Director-General Gerald Bantag.
He said Bantag “should have exercised transparency” in his disclosure of information on the deaths of the inmates.
He said he knew Bantag as a “straight, no-nonsense guy,” having worked with him when he was Valenzuela City jail warden and he was mayor.
“I am quite disappointed that this happened—because you can address your issues with COVID-19 and be transparent,” Gatchalian said.
“You have to practice extra transparency to show that you’re doing the right thing. You can employ extra transparency measures so the public will know who really died. We don’t want a cloud of doubt.”
Instead of invoking the Data Privacy Act that has nothing to do with the deaths, Gatchalian said Bantag should have been more forthright.
“This is still unfolding and I haven’t seen transparency,” Gatchalian said, adding Bantag should welcome the investigation on the matter and clear his name.
Senator Leila de Lima said the rather unusual reaction of the wife of Jaybee Sebastian, which included threats to kill all the prison officials and personnel responsible for Sebastian’s death, speaks volume on the circumstances surrounding it.
She says Sebastian’s wife must know something about the dubious circumstances to go hysterical and threaten to kill the NBP people.
“I am also sure she knows a lot about the intense pressure exerted on Sebastian and his family to falsely testify against me during the House Justice Committee hearings on the Bilibid Drug Trade in September and October 2016,” De Lima said.
“Sebastian refused to falsely testify before the House Committee until he was stabbed and was almost killed inside NBP Building 14 on September 28, 2016. A few days later, he was dragged to the Batasan, with his stab wounds still fresh, to falsely testify against me.”
Sebastian, a convicted kidnapper and drug lord, was the government’s witness in the illegal drug charges against De Lima, who remains detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame.
