Aquino immediately vowed to “buckle down to work” and address the latest controversy to rock his administration, easily overshadowing the gains he had earlier announced from his trip to Thailand – the commitment of several business conglomerates to expand their operations and investments in agriculture, energy and cement.
The scandals involve the granting of “living out” and other special privileges to selected convicts of the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa and the “VIP treatment” given to members of the powerful Ampatuan clan who are detained in the supposedly high security jail in Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City on charges of masterminding and leading the massacre of 58 persons, including 32 media workers, in 2009.
The Bilibid furor was triggered by the arrest of former Batangas governor Antonio Levista, who is serving a sentence for homicide, by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation as he was about to visit his dentist.
Aquino told reporters on his arrival that he would issue a decision on the Bilibid controversy by the middle of next week.
On the other hand, the perks supposedly enjoyed by former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and the other members of his clan led to the sacking Friday morning of jail warden Glenford Valdepenas and more than 50 personnel.
Around the same time, Malacanang spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Aquino was aware of what was happening and warned that the relief of the Bicutan jail personnel was only the beginning.
“The President also recognizes the state of prisons in the country, and acknowledges that steps need to be taken, especially as regards to the ratio of guards to prisoners and (the) congestion due to lack of facilities,” Lacierda said.
“The President has already issued directives to the DILG, the Department of Justice, and his team of economic managers to come up with an inventory of proposals to reform the prison system in the country,” he said.
“The President has already issued directives to the DILG, the Department of Justice, and his team of economic managers to come up with an inventory of proposals to reform the prison system in the country,” he said.
Lacierda said the DILG has invited Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu, who lost his wife and sisters in the massacre, and his lawyers to “provide further input.”
On Thursday Mangudadatu and other relatives of massacre victims tried to conduct a court-approved spot inspection of the detention cell where the Ampatuans and the more than 80 massacre suspects arrested so far are kept but were prevented from doing so by Valdepenas.
More than a hundred other suspects remain at large.
The governor then showed pictures he said proved the special privileges enjoyed by Andal Sr., including, among others, receiving more visitors than jail rules allowed, including at least one woman photographed with a mobile phone supposed to be prohibited inside the facility.
Prosecution lawyer Harold Roque also said he had received reports of the Ampatuan patriarch dining in a five-star hotel in Metro Manila.
Journalists and the families of the slain media workers called the special treatment of the Ampatuans "the latest blow" against their search for justice and pressed for more spot inspections of the Bicutan detention center, with the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines saying it was “the most compelling argument why government should not allow any attempt to prevent the victims’ families and their lawyers, as well as media organizations and any citizen of this country from closely monitoring the case and, if necessary, speaking out openly about perceived efforts to subvert the cause of justice."
The media group was referring to the Court of Appeals’ efforts to cite in contempt Monette Salaysay, widow of Napoleon, one of the murdered media workers, and NUJP secretary general Rowena Paraan, as well as the contempt petition filed by defense lawyer Sigfrid Fortun against several journalists and media outlets for reporting on the disbarment case lodged against him.
And while the NUJP acknowledged the sacking of the Bicutan jail personnel, it said “a mere changing of the guard will not be enough” and urged a thorough overhaul of the country’s prison system.
It cited Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) director Rosendo Dial’s statement that he saw no evidence the Amnpatuans received special treatment when he inspected their detention quarters.
"We all know how easy it is to clean up the evidence, which makes Dial’s statement sound suspiciously like the beginnings of a cover-up," the NUJP said.
