Leviste had no dental sked when he slipped out of prison

Contrary to what he has been saying to justify his "escape," homicide convict and former Batangas Governor Antonio Leviste never had a scheduled dental check up in Makati City on the day he was found to have slipped out of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) compound in Muntinlupa City. "Wala po siyang record sa amin dito na magpapa-check-up siya nung araw na iyon [Our records show that he has no scheduled appointment that day]," Florenda Yu told GMA News Online in an interview. Yu is the secretary of Leviste's dentist, Dr. Carlo Pio Tripon, of the Tripon Dental Center along Arnaiz Avenue in Makati City, Yu said Tripon's clients usually schedule an appointment with him by text message or phone. She added Leviste did not reach them through any of those means. Asked if Leviste had dropped by the dental clinic this year prior to May 18, Yu said she still had to check their records. She recalled that the former governor had made "several visits" in the past for check-ups. Leviste has been reported in the past to have made visits to the dentist. Last May 18, Leviste was caught inside his office at the LPL Tower in Makati City, far away from the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City. When authorities asked him why he was out of prison, Leviste claimed he no longer can bear his aching tooth and had an appointment with his dentist. After his conviction in January 2009, Leviste was brought to the Makati City Jail but was later transferred to the NBP. He was supposed to be housed at his own bamboo hut or 'kubol' — a privilege of "sleep out" prisoners from the maximum security unit — when news broke out last week that he had slipped out of the NBP compound. Since he was re-arrested, Leviste was transferred from the minimum to the maximum security facility of the NBP and was charged with evasion of service of sentence. Officials in hot water Several NBP officials and non-officers are currently in hot water for Leviste's "escape." Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III over the weekend inspected the minimum security facility as well as the gates of the BNP to piece together how Leviste could have slipped out of prison. In the process, Baraan along with a team of investigators discovered several lapses in the penitentiary's security, including the absence of perimeter fences in certain sections of the compound and the absence of closed circuit television cameras at the gates. According to investigators, Leviste could either have bribed NBP officials to let him go out of the compound or the guards securing the compound might not have recognized him while he was passing through the gates. The Department of Justice and the National Bureau of Investigation panel of investigators on Monday started probing the incident to identify the liable jail officials and recommend ways of fortifying security at the prison compound. Bureau of Corrections Director Ernesto Diokno has already taken a leave of absence while investigations are ongoing. — VS, GMA News