DOJ names prison officials liable for Leviste caper

(Updated 1 p.m.) After receiving the approval of President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released its report on who should be held liable for the unauthorized departure of former Batangas Gov. Antonio Leviste from the New Bilibid Prison on May 18. In the 36-page report, the DOJ recommended administrative action against five officials. Former Bureau of Corrections Director Diokno was supposed to face sanctions but he could no longer be held administratively liable because he resigned last Monday. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, in an eight-page memorandum to the President, said the DOJ itself will file formal administrative charges of misconduct, neglect of duty, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service against the five officials, who are non-presidential appointees. The five men are the following: Bilibid custodian, Fortunato Justo The panel said Fortunato Justo, Leviste's custodian, committed gross neglect of duty when he failed to monitor the former governor's whereabouts on May 18. The panel said that had Justo fully discharged his duties, Leviste would not have walked in and out of the national penitentiary. The panel likewise noted that Justo's testimony during the hearings was "full of inconsistencies" and "runs counter to his incident report, which casts doubt on the veracity of his claim that he was not remiss in the performance of his duties." The panel added that a television footage showed that Leviste had been sneaking out of Bilibid several times even before the former governor was caught by government agents last May 18. "These circumstances undoubtedly prove that Justo was totally remiss in the performance of his duties as Leviste's custodian," the panel said. It also questioned why Justo requested for Leviste the eight inmates who will help the former governor in the Agriculture Production section. The panel said such act "clearly establishes his unusual closeness to, and accommodation for, inmate Leviste." The panel then recommended the initiation of criminal action against Justo for "infidelity in the custody of prisoner," an offense provided by the Revised Penal Code. Former and incumbent NBP chiefs The panel is also holding administratively liable former New Bilibid Prison chief superintendent Armando Miranda and his successor, Ramon Reyes, who assumed the leadership at Bilibid in April this year. It said Miranda "clearly had a direct hand" in giving Leviste special treatment. The panel cited the testimony of Agriculture Production (Agro) section head Wilson Marquez, who said that it was Miranda who instructed him to request Leviste's transfer to the Agro section. "He (Miranda) did not cancel the 'sleep out' privilege that he granted to inmate Leviste despite the reports, raw or otherwise, of the latter's alleged escapes," said the panel, adding that Miranda did not establish ways to prevent the escape of "sleep out" inmates like Leviste. For his part, Reyes is being held liable for failing "to exercise his duty as he did not cause the cancellation or revocation of the privilege status granted to Leviste despite receiving reports of inmate Leviste's out-of-jail trips." Former and incumbent heads of the minimum security camp Also found liable are Dante Cruz and Roberto Rabo, former and incumbent heads of the minimum security compound, where "living out" prisoners stay. A "living out prisoner" is a minimum security prisoner who is allowed to roam around the Bilibid premises but who must report back to the minimum security camp before nighttime. On the other hand, a "sleep out" prisoner has more privileges because he can live out and sleep out of the minimum security compound 24 hours a day. However, the panel noted that such privilege is not found in BuCor's latest manual. The panel said Cruz "had the supervisory power and control over the inmates under his responsibility, by recommending for approval that leviste need not report to the minimum security compound for headcount." The pane also said he violated BuCor's rules and regulations by "reducing the number of headcount to three times only, instead of four times as required by the rules." Rabo, for his part, was found to be negligent when he did not act on reports that Leviste had been violating prison rules by going in and out of Bilibid. "Being the chief of the minimum security compound, he should have recommended the cancellation or revocation of the 'sleep out' privilege granted to Leviste.... He should have taken it upon himself to personally conduct an investigation of the alleged report and order a closer watch on inmate Leviste," said the panel. Diokno's 'most serious lapse' The panel's report dwelled on Diokno's culpability as head of the Bureau of Corrections. When the panel submitted its report last Monday, Diokno had yet to resign from his post then. The panel said Diokno's "most serious lapse of judgment" was his failure to act on the "raw information" on Leviste's capers. "At the very least, he should have sensed some irregularities going on and he should have called on the chief superintendent to conduct an investigation of the prison guards in charge of Leviste, or conducted his own discreet investigation," said the panel. It added: "It is for this most serious lapse of judgment, given his admission, that he had raw info about inmate Leviste's capers, that Diokno is mainly being faulted by the panel. It is a failure that reflected on his leadership and effectiveness as a director." The panel said that Diokno should have gone beyond confronting Leviste upon getting reports on the former governor unauthorized trips. "It is quite clear to the panel that [Diokno] did not give the report the attention, the seriousness and the urgency that it deserved. It is as if he merely paid lip service to it," said the panel. — VVP/RSJ, GMA News