Another convict gets hospital trip out of NBP

MANILA, Philippines - Another inmate at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City was rushed to the Philippine Heart Center (PHC) on Monday ostensibly for treatment of a heart ailment, officials said yesterday.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has yet to finish its probe on the hospitalization of three convicts, including a drug lord and robbery gang leader, outside the NBP recently when drug trafficker Cacad Mamao was brought to the PHC in Quezon City by prison guards.

TV-5 obtained  a copy of the hospital’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera, showing Mamao looking strong and fit when he arrived at the PHC.

He was wearing civilian clothes and was not in handcuffs.

The CCTV also caught Mamao bantering with his police escorts.

Mamao asked to be confined in a suite but hospital officials refused, saying his “documents from the NBP are unsigned.”

This prompted Mamao and his party to leave the hospital.

Superintendent Celso Bravo of the NBP said there was no irregularity in sending Mamao to the hospital as they secured a verbal approval from DOJ Undersecretary Francisco Baraan.

Baraan had been tasked by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to investigate the alleged VIP treatment being given to high-value inmates.

Bravo admitted that it was not only Mamao who was taken to the hospital. He said two other inmates underwent CT-scans in another hospital in Quezon City.

Bravo said the inmates are suffering from “life-threatening diseases.”

“We are only trying to save lives,” he said.