'Sacked Camp Crame jail chief a sacrificial lamb'

MANILA, Philippines — The sacked chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame is only a "sacrificial lamb" in the fiasco over the supposed VIP treatment of detained senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon "Bong" Revilla, Jr., two high-profile detainees said.

In a handwritten statement on Thursday, accused National People's Army leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon said that Superintendent Mario Malana did not deserve the administrative charges for purportedly allowing Estrada's family and friends to stay beyond visiting hours and celebrate his wedding anniversary over the weekend.

"Relief from post diverts attention and ultimate responsibility from reported arrangement from PNP superiors and mercenary politicians with high-maintenance celebrity detainees," the Tiamzon couple said.

They argued that warden Malana was required to inform and seek approval from his superiors for special visiting arrangements and related requests in the jail facility.

"Sa pagkakaalam namin ang mga special visits at ang partiikular na requested visit para sa wedding anniversary ay inaprubahan ng higher-ups," the couple noted.

The statement follows another letter to the media signed by 59 detainees of the Custodial Center vouching for Malana's integrity and competence and urging authorities to transfer the two senators to another detention area.

Read: Fellow detainees want 'disruptive' Bong, Jinggoy transferred

PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Rueben Sindac, meanwhile, denied accusations that Malana's suspension was a cover-up for the police leadership's failure to properly handle the plunder respondents' situation.

Sindac said that Malana "might not have been able to gain control of his position" in allowing Estrada's anniversary celebration.

"It is not a punishment, [it's] part of the investigation process. he was administratively relieved from administrative position," Sindac said in an interview on ANC on Thursday night.

He said Malana was charged for "less grave neglect of duty, failure to implement the rules and regulations of custodial service and failure to inform higher headquarters of what happened within his unit."

"As part of due process, his side was heard, he wrote his explanation and we believe it was not good enough to stop finding a reason or cause that he should be administratively charged," Sindac added.