Rolito Go hospitalized without DOJ approval

MANILA, Philippines - Convicted killer Rolito Go is back in the hospital. 

The Department of Justice (DOJ), however, is unaware of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) decision to have the cancer-stricken inmate leave the state penitentiary.

“I didn’t know that. I’ll have it checked,” said DOJ undersecretary Francisco Baraan III in a phone interview with The STAR. The NBP is under the supervision of the DOJ, and Baraan has been tasked as its supervising officer. 

Go is detained at NBP’s maximum security compound. The revelation that he’s outside NBP came on the heels of a scandal involving the illegal activities in the penitentiary.

Maximum security compound Superintendent Robert Rabo said in a radio interview yesterday that Go was sent to the hospital to undergo chemotherapy.

“I felt pity. His condition has worsened,” he said.

Go was a businessman jailed for killing a 25-year-old student during the 1990s. He has been repeatedly accused of receiving special treatment from jail guards and bureau officials.

Rabo, in a separate interview with The STAR, said the DOJ “authorized” Go’s hospitalization.

“We can’t let him out without authority. I just cannot say who authorized it because I only assumed my post last June and Go has been in the hospital before that,” he said in a phone interview.

Bureau of Corrections director Franklin Bucayu said he checked if Go is staying at the Metropolitan Medical Center in Binondo and “he is indeed there.”