BuCor: Shabu tiangge operator Boratong among COVID-19 fatalities

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) yesterday confirmed that convicted drug lord Amin Imam Boratong has died due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Boratong was the operator of the notorious “shabu tiangge” in Pasig City.

He was convicted, along with his wife, in July 2009 after the drug den was raided and demolished in 2006.

A funeral parlor in Muntinlupa City also confirmed yesterday that a certain Amin Imam Boratong was picked up from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) last month.

Gigi Laconico, the daughter of Zenaida Lim de Mesa Funeral Homes’s owner, said the BuCor contacted them to pick up the body of Boratong and brought it to a Muslim cemetery in
 Norzagaray, Bulacan in the afternoon of June 5.

The body bag was not opened, according to Laconico, since “the cadaver is COVID-19 positive.”

She said what happened was a “direct burial” as cremation is a practice that is forbidden by Islam.

BuCor spokesman Gabriel Chaclag also confirmed the death.

“(Boratong’s) name is among the deceased,” Chaclag said in Filipino.

Boratong’s death was confirmed a few days after another high-profile person deprived of liberty (PDL), Jaybee Sebastian, was reported to have died due to COVID-19.

Sebastian was convicted of kidnap-for-ransom and carjacking in 2009 and was allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade inside the NBP.

Sebastian, one of the nine high profile PDLs who allegedly died due to COVID-19, is a co-respondent in drug trafficking cases filed against detained Sen. Leila de Lima.

Also yesterday, the BuCor said it is open to any probe on the supposed COVID-19 deaths as several quarters are questioning the real situation behind them.

In a television interview yesterday, BuCor chief Director General Gerald Bantag said the “theories” of individuals that the high-profile PDLs were “killed” or were “set free” do not have any basis.

Bantag maintained that the PDLs really died of COVID-19.

“(The theories) are all false. Now, we are open and we are welcoming any investigation on the allegations,” Bantag said in Filipino.

The BuCor chief is challenging those who are making such allegations to prove them.

“They should find someone who would say that (he is) the one who died (from COVID-19). That person should tell us that whoever was in the death certificate, who was cremated, was (him) and (he) paid us to escape,” Bantag said.

“As long as there is no such thing, they should not throw accusations around. If they want to investigate, go ahead. There is no problem,” he added.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III had earlier filed a resolution pushing for the investigation on the deaths of the 21 inmates from the NBP and the Correctional Institution for Women.

“Due to unclear, inaccurate and unverified reports, speculations are now being made as to whether or not these NBP inmates actually died due to COVID-19,” Sotto said in his Resolution 468.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has also ordered a probe on the deaths.

In a TV interview, Bantag said 18 of the 21 deaths from the two penitentiaries came from the NBP.

He also appealed for the trust of individuals who are casting doubts on the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

“Those who are (in high positions) that are (casting doubt), I hope they will not give the public room to doubt. This is not just any case,” he said.

“They should trust the people placed in positions of the government. If they have any doubts, we welcome any investigation,” he added.

Not covered

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque  Jr. yesterday supported the DOJ’s legal opinion that high-profile inmates are not covered by the Data Privacy Act, following the reported death of Sebastian.

“As to whether the Data Privacy is applicable, it is my understanding that Muntinlupa should report the individuals or detainees who died, I think (they are) not covered by the data privacy law because they actually died not only because of COVID-19, but also while in custody of the national penitentiary,” Roque said.

The Palace spokesman did not say if President Duterte has been briefed about the cases of Sebastian and several other drug lords who supposedly died due to COVID-19.

With Roque’s statement, the Palace has refuted Bantag’s earlier claim that he cannot reveal the identities of the inmates who died due to COVID-19, invoking the Data Privacy Law.

DOJ spokesman Undersecretary Markk Perete also said in cases imbued with public interest, privacy rules can be set aside and the dead inmates can be identified.

‘Proof of death’

Suspicions that identities may have been switched in the reported deaths of high-profile inmates at the NBP due to COVID-19 is not something to be laughed at that senators are asking “proof of death” from BuCor officials.

Senators are giving credence to rising public suspicion that drug lords and high-profile convicts at the corruption-ridden NBP were recorded as having succumbed to COVID-19 but were actually freed by cremating other inmates’ bodies.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said such theories could not be dismissed unless there is convincing proof that the bodies that were cremated in the past weeks belonged to the drug lords.

“The proof of death is a photo of the body. If there is, then doubts will be laid to rest. But there is no need to stage a macabre show by making the photo public,” Recto said.

Pictures of inmates are taken the first time he enters the NBP so it is probable, he said, that the same would be done on the “final exit, when an inmate leaves the prison for good, whether he walks out a free man or is carried out horizontally.”

Picture and video records of happenings at the NBP should not be difficult to come by when BuCor officials have mobile phones, which nearly all have cameras.

The senator said Bantag could simply show the pictures as well as corroborating footage from closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who can attest to its authenticity.

“(If there’s) CCTV footage of the body being brought out, the better. And why should there be none? A prison without surveillance cameras is like one without locks,” Recto said.

“Show them to the justice secretary – and the death certificates and medical records of deceased high-profile drug lords – and all the conspiracy theories in this land, where weaving them is a national hobby, will be buried,” he added.

Some 45 inmates succumbed to COVID-19 in April, and 29 more died from the infectious disease in May.

The theory that the drug lords who had reportedly died from COVID-19 but are actually now roaming freely was “scary,” according to Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon.

“Given the anomalies in the BuCor unearthed in the Senate hearings, we cannot help but suspect that faking deaths of prisoners can happen,” Drilon said.

“The burden is on BuCor to present proof of regularity in the performance of its functions,” he added, as he stressed that Bantag could not invoke the Data Privacy Act in not releasing details on the COVID-19 deaths.

The policy behind the Data Privacy Act is to protect the people from being harmed from the invasion of their property, according to the senator.

“Secondly, the deaths are not considered sensitive personal information that cannot be released. In fact, you need death certificate, a public document,” he said.

Sen. Richard Gordon, who chairs both the Blue Ribbon and justice committees, said his staff has already started to do fact-finding work in anticipation of the investigation pushed by Senate President Sotto on Monday.

Gordon was also suspicious of the reported COVID-19 deaths at the NBP given the long history of corruption and extrajudicial killings at the BuCor, and initial findings of his staff that the disposal of the bodies were “improperly handled.”

“There is every reason to suspect (that switching) happened. There are hallmarks of cover up of the deaths,” Gordon told reporters during a video conference.

The senator warned that Bantag could face administrative and criminal charges, including grave misconduct, even as he expressed dismay and puzzlement over the BuCor chief’s apparent failure to report to Guevarra the identities of high-profile inmates when they first tested positive for COVID-19.

“Every jail guard, every nurse, every doctor in the chain will be investigated,” he said.

De Lima also questioned Bantag’s refusal to divulge the identity of the high-profile NBP inmates who supposedly died due to COVID-19 and were immediately cremated.

“After all, the BuCor has already previously released a list of the non-high profile inmates who died of COVID-19,” De Lima said.

“What is more ridiculous is Bantag’s excuse for non-disclosure that the supposedly dead drug lords have their rights under the Data Privacy Act, which is idiotic because before they died, all these inmates were likewise under civil interdiction and shorn of capacity to exercise civil and political rights, other than their rights as PDLs,” she added.

If these high-profile inmates are truly dead, then they must have death certificates, a document that is accessible to the public, according to the detained opposition senator. – Christina Mendez, Paolo Romero, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Evelyn Macairan, Edu Punay