BuCor investigating deaths of Jaybee Sebastian, 8 others

The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) is investigating the deaths of Jaybee Sebastian and eight other high-profile inmates of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), officer-in-charge Gregorio Catapang Jr. said Thursday.

Sebastian died in July 2020 due to COVID-19, supposedly at the NBP hospital.

“Kahapon po nagpunta ako doon sa Site Harry at kinausap ko din 'yung mga tao doon. Eh kahina-hinala naman ngayon na finding ay si Jaybee Sebastian hindi naman pala namatay doon sa Site Harry,” Catapang told Super Radyo dzBB.

(I visited Site Harry yesterday and I talked to the people there. The suspicious finding this time is that Jaybee Sebastian did not pass away at Site Harry.)

“Doon siya namatay sa eskwelahan, 'yung University of Perpetual Help. School. Hindi po siya sa ospital namatay. Katabi po nung ospital 'yung eskwelahan na tinatawag namin na Perpetual Help University,” he added.

(He passed away at the University of Perpetual Help. School. He did not die at the hospital. Beside the hospital is the school that we call the Perpetual Help University.)

GMA News Online has sought the University of Perpetual Help-Las Piñas campus for comment but has yet to receive a reply as of posting time.

Meanwhile, Catapang said there were around eight or seven inmates with suspicious deaths.

“’Yung mga high-value prisoners namin doon katulad ni Jaybee Sebastian,” he said.

“Ayun gusto rin namin paimbestigahan kasi may mga lapses din po doon kasi nung nalaman nung asawa ni Jaybee na ‘yung asawa niya ay namatay na, parang ang utos niya eh siya ang magpapa-autopsy. So mukhang hindi iyon napagbigyan,” he added.

(We also want to investigate this as there were lapses because when Jaybee’s wife found out that he died, she wanted to do an independent autopsy. It looks like this was not granted.)

Meanwhile, Catapang said the alleged deaths of high-profile inmates due to illnesses have been in their “horizon” for a long time.

“May mga salaysay na ho kami niyan na pinasa na lang namin sa NBI tapos binigyan namin sila ng lead... di ba po nirerequest nila ‘yung PDL, NBI, ‘yun po binigay na namin, binigay namin para sila na magtuloy ng imbestigasyon,” he said

(We had statements that we forwarded to the NBI and we gave them leads… the NBI requested the PDLs and we turned them over so they can continue the investigation.)

This comes after detainee Rodel Tiaga revealed that some inmates who died at the national penitentiary were actually killed.

According to Catapang, two more inmates who allegedly acted with Tiaga will be turned over to the NBI.

“Kausapin natin 'yung mga nakasama ni Tiaga na kung sino man 'yung tumulong sa kanya sa pagpatay na maging ano rin, na mag-collaborate doon sa statement ni Tiaga,” he said.

(We will talk to his companions or whoever helped him so they can collaborate on his statement.)

“And then after that we will ask the hospital kasi BuCor 'yan eh, and then ‘yun nga ang nangyari diyan initial investigation ko nga, natin dito sa BuCor, eh hindi naman pala nahawakan ng mga BuCor personnel 'yan,” he added.

(And then after that we will ask the hospital because this is BuCor. And then my initial investigation, the initial investigation in BuCor, is that the BuCor personnel did not handle this.)

In an ambush interview, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla urged the public to refrain from speculating on the issue.

“There’s been a lot of speculation. We cannot comment… we cannot speculate ourselves. We just have to look for the truth behind every issue. We cannot allow speculation to rule our lives,” he said.

“Kaya eto, we’re getting… we’re eliciting testimonies from people who may help us uncover the truth. ‘Yun lang naman ‘yun (that's all),” he added.

Remulla said that though the witness testimony may be credible, it must be tested.—AOL, GMA Integrated News