Leviste caught outside Bilibid

MANILA, Philippines -  Former Batangas governor Jose Antonio Leviste, who is serving a 12-year prison term at the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP), was arrested by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents in his building in Makati City yesterday afternoon.

NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula confirmed Leviste’s arrest by agents from the agency’s National Capital Region office and intelligence division.

Gatdula said Leviste was detained at the NBI headquarters and will be brought back to the NBP. His inquest is set today.

A source said Leviste who was wearing a white polo shirt when NBI agents caught him at the LPL Towers in Legaspi Village. The source said Leviste “was not in handcuffs” and looked very ordinary.

Leviste was found guilty of killing his aide, Rafael de las Alas, in 2007.

Bureau of Corrections director Ernesto Diokno said Leviste was allowed to be a “living out” prisoner because he is a senior citizen but this privilege was violated. Living-out inmates must stay within the 536-hectare prison reservation. Diokno said he will revoke all of Leviste’s privileges after he was caught going out of the NBP without permission.

He said he will also file administrative and criminal charges against Leviste’s jail guard, Fortunato Justo, for allowing him to go out of the reservation.

Diokno added that when he assumed office last year, the 70-year-old politician was already enjoying the status of a living-out prisoner.