Prosecutor pushes Revilla’s transfer to Camp Bagong Diwa

MANILA, Philippines - Government lawyers are pushing for the transfer of Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. and his former chief of staff Richard Cambe to a regular detention facility at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.

Ombudsman prosecutors asked the Sandiganbayan again yesterday to reconsider its earlier decision allowing Revilla and Cambe to remain at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center at Camp Crame.

In a six-page comment filed before the anti-graft court’s First Division, government lawyers said it is not true that the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) cannot handle high-profile inmates.

They said that BJMP officials admitted that two rooms measuring at least 64 square meters could be converted into a detention cell to accommodate the two accused.

Revilla and Cambe are detained on plunder charges for allegedly pocketing P224 million in kickbacks from the senator’s Priority Development Assistance Fund.

The prosecution denounced the claim of the accused that the BJMP cannot ensure their safety if they are transferred to the Taguig jail.

Government lawyers said Revilla and Cambe should be treated equally like alleged pork barrel scam operator Janet Lim-Napoles and lawyer Gigi Reyes, former chief of staff and co-accused of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile in the plunder case, who are detained at Camp Bagong Diwa jail in Taguig City.

The Sandiganbayan had earlier junked the prosecution’s motion to transfer Revilla and Cambe from Camp Crame to Taguig.