DOJ finds Leviste NBP hut 'amazing'

Manila, Philippines - Former Batangas governor Jose Antonio Leviste’s living arrangements at the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) are “amazing,” according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) official who was part of a team that conducted an ocular inspection at the prison reservation yesterday.

Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III said Leviste’s “kubol” or hut in the minimum security camp stands in a lagoon, with a dirty boat under it. Officials described the hut as similar to those in resorts. The homicide convict also has a satellite office near his hut.

Unlike the cramped cells of common convicts in the minimum security camp, Leviste’s hut is spacious, with a balcony and well-maintained bathroom, he said.

Baraan noted that the hut has no perimeter fence around it and Leviste could have easily escaped on foot. He also noted that informal settlers who were relocated near the reservation walk in and out of the camp.

“Aside from living out privileges, Leviste also had sleep out privileges,” Baraan said. “He could sleep inside his hut.”

Baraan was accompanied by the DOJ’s five-man probe panel, headed by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Susan Dacanay; National Bureau of Investigation agents, and NBP officials in going around the reservation. They checked the minimum security camp, where living out inmates are housed; the maximum security compound; and entry and exit points of these areas.

“We want to look at the actual condition (of the place) where Leviste came from before he escaped. (This is) to determine how easy and how hard it is for an inmate to get out of the prison compound,” Baraan said. Each NBP gate must have at least two to three jail guards, said Assistant Director Teodora Diaz.

Baraan said Leviste’s hut is far from the main gate of the NBP compound and he would have to pass through several guards before he can go out of the compound.

“Leviste’s car was also seen going in and out of the compound right up to the hut. And the car also was able to go out with Leviste in spite of the guards,” he said.

Baraan has yet to talk to Leviste as of yesterday afternoon. The convict was transferred to the NBP’s maximum security compound after he was caught in his own building in Makati City Wednesday afternoon.

Guards inept or conniving

Baraan said living out prisoners – who can freely roam the prison reservation – can easily escape on foot because security measures are lacking. In Leviste’s case, he was in a vehicle when he fled the prison compound Wednesday.

“Either there is gross negligence, total ineptitude, or there is connivance on the part of our security guards. If it’s the latter one, were they acting alone?” Baraan said.

Baraan pointed out that based on what he saw during the ocular, Leviste would not be able to escape “if the guards stationed at the gates did their jobs.”

When he asked NBP superintendent Ramon Reyes why informal settlers are allowed to go into the camp, Reyes said they cannot do anything because they do not have money to put up fences. He added that the informal settlers, who were relocated two years ago, have posed a great security risk to the NBP. “But what can we do? It is the government that placed them there,” Reyes said.

Reyes added that the NBP could not move pending the resolution of a proposal to transfer the penitentiary to Rizal province.

Diaz and Reyes admitted that several of their inmates, especially those with living out status, have fled the area and never came back. Just last year, the NBP recorded 15 escapees, said Diaz. Some of them have been recaptured and were charged with evasion of service – the same case that Leviste is facing now before the Makati prosecutor’s office.

The NBP tries to counter the lack of security measures by conducting head counts thrice a day.

Because of Leviste’s deed, the NBP had to suspend all the living out status of 400 inmates. Bureau of Corrections director Ernesto Diokno earlier said he does not know when it will be restored.

Leviste, 71, was convicted for homicide in 2009 for killing his aide Rafael delas Alas in 2007. He was sentenced to suffer six to 12 years in prison. But two years into his conviction, Leviste was already enjoying a living out status, which is usually given to the handicapped, inmates almost at the end of their prison terms, or those 65 years old and above.

Baraan said he wants Leviste’s privilege to be reviewed, if not cancelled, saying the former governor must not yet be entitled to such privilege. “The only qualification he has is his age but he still has a long way to go before he completes his sentence,” he said.

According to Baraan, he will recommend that the living out status must only be granted to those people who only have six months left to serve.