EDITORIAL - VIP inmates

As of last Friday, probers said Jose Adrian Dera had managed to leave detention at the National Bureau of Investigation headquarters four times. Dera, a co-defendant of former senator Leila de Lima in one of the drug cases she is facing, was reportedly escorted by NBI agents in his excursions.

Six NBI personnel now face criminal charges for graft after Dera was caught sneaking out of detention on Tuesday night and returning to the NBI headquarters in Manila on Wednesday. Dera was also charged with corruption of public officials.

Officials of the Department of Justice, which has jurisdiction over the NBI, said the head of the bureau’s detention center had been sacked as an investigation gets underway. Probers said firearms, P100,000 in cash and other contraband were found in Dera’s possession as he returned to the NBI.

Dera’s lawyer said the P100,000 was pooled from contributions among NBI detainees for their food. The inmates must have gotten a raw deal; closed-circuit television footage released by the NBI showed Dera eating with his supposed girlfriend in a buffet restaurant in Makati.

Part of the money seized from Dera, the lawyer said, was also for a medical check-up as the inmate appeared to be suffering from gastritis. The lawyer stressed that his client returned to the NBI. DOJ officials, however, said Dera’s excursion was not covered by any authorization from the NBI, whether for medical purposes or to procure food for his fellow detainees.

It’s not a unique case. Jail and corrections facilities are among the weak links in the criminal justice system in this country. In many detention facilities, whether national prisons managed by the Bureau of Corrections or jails run by police, local governments or the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, there have been numerous reports of moneyed inmates enjoying VIP treatment.

The New Bilibid Prison gained notoriety not only for drug trafficking operated by its inmates but also for the luxuries such as air conditioners as well as sauna and music recording system that moneyed prisoners managed to install inside the NBP. At the Correctional Institution for Women, notorious drug trafficker Yu Yuk Lai spent months on end “confined” in a top hospital in Manila’s Chinatown. She was so notorious for corrupting jailers that to this day, there are suspicions that she is now free after bribing prison guards to report that she had died of COVID at the height of the lockdowns.

At least it looks like authorities are moving to ensure that Dera and his NBI escorts won’t get away with his VIP treatment. The best way to stop such practices is to ensure that those involved are caught and punished.