DOJ panel to inspect Bilibid Saturday over Leviste 'caper'

The Department of Justice panel tasked to look into former Batangas Gov. Antonio Leviste's alleged ‘evasion of service of sentence’ will conduct an ocular inspection of the New Bilibid Prisons this Saturday in Muntinlupa City. DOJ Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III said the panel will first inspect the NBP minimum security compound, where Leviste should have been staying when he was arrested by government agents last Wednesday. The inspection and proceedings are open to the public and to the media, "except when the members decide that the hearings should be conducted in an executive session," Baraan added. The five-member panel was tasked to begin its inquiry next Monday, but Baraan said they will start work Saturday so as not to waste time. The panel is composed of Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Susan Dacanay as head with Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Ma. Emilia Victorio, DOJ State Counsels Wilberto Tolitol and Charlene Mae Tapic, and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Intelligence Services Deputy Director Ruel Lasala as members They will determine how Leviste and other high-profile inmates at the NBP are able to walk in and out of the national penitentiary without proper clearance. Leviste is supposed to be detained at the maximum security compound after his conviction in 2009 for fatally shooting his long-time friend two years earlier. But at 71 years old, Leviste is entitled to a "living out" status granted to inmates who are over the age of 70. "Living out" inmates stay at the minimum security compound. Diokno is no 'sacred cow' Baraan said that the panel inquiry, to end next Wednesday, includes interviews with those who can shed light on Leviste's movements. Those that will be interviewed are his custodian guard, minimum security compound guards and their direct supervisors, the NBP superintendent, the NBI agents who arrested Leviste, and Bureau of Corrections director Ernesto Diokno. The DOJ on Friday said that there will be no special treatment of Diokno, who served as chief of the Manila Police District from 1989 to 1992, while Corazon Aquino was President. Because Diokno is a presidential appointee, only Aquino can order his dismissal or suspension. The DOJ can only go as far as recommend administrative sanctions against him. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said her "track record speaks for itself" when it comes to dealing with perceived political allies of the President. "To me, it's a non-issue actually. He [Aquino] is the appointing authority and he has the right, the prerogative, and power to put men and women he trusts. So per se, that is not an issue," De Lima said. “It becomes an issue if the results of the investigation, and even formal administrative proceedings would confirm the culpability [of Diokno] and the President would be indecisive on the matter, or dilly-dally," according to the Justice secretary. De Lima also said she ordered Diokno to suspend the Bureau of Correction’s internal investigation on Leviste's alleged capers so there will be no duplication or overlapping with the DOJ's fact-finding probe. "An internal investigation will not be credible, whatever the outcome. Whether it is correct or not, it will be subject to suspicion," De Lima said. — ELR/VS, GMA News