De Lima: DOJ ready to submit to Aquino report on Leviste caper

Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila de Lima said she will submit to President Benigno Aquino III by noon on Monday the DOJ report on former Batangas Gov. Antonio Leviste's unauthorized trip outside the New Bilibid Prison on May 18. Speaking to reporters at the DOJ, De Lima said she will submit the report after finishing a cover memorandum that will include her "own insights and recommendations." She declined to give further details. Last week, a five-member DOJ panel concluded its fact-finding inquiry, which also sought to determine who should be held liable for Leviste's so-called caper. Leviste, who was convicted of homicide in 2009, was caught outside the national penitentiary last May 18. The DOJ subsequently filed a new case against him because his unauthorized departure supposedly constituted evasion of the service of his sentence of six to 12 years. DOJ Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, who oversees the panel's probe, has only hinted that the panel will recommend administrative and criminal proceedings against prison officials, whom he declined to name. The Revised Penal Code provides for sanctions over the "infidelity of public officers" assigned to penal institutions. Article 223 of the code penalizes "any public officer, who shall consent to the escape of a prisoner in his custody or charge, shall be punished." Article 224, meanwhile, penalizes an officer whose negligence led to the escape or evasion of a prisoner. Baraan has also said that the panel's report will recommend an overhaul of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and the New Bilibid Prison leadership. The BuCor has the direct supervision of NBP but BuCor Director Ernesto Diokno, who is on leave, has refused to take up responsibility for Leviste's depature. Diokno said he is only concerned with policy-making matters, an explanation that the DOJ panel found "unacceptable." - VVP, GMA News