Probe ordered on Bagong Diwa ‘boarding house’

Are wanted criminals now seeking refuge inside the Metro Manila Rehabilitation Center (MMRC) in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig?

Superintendent Romeo Elisan, MMRC district warden, said yesterday he has ordered an investigation after two people wanted for robbery were arrested at the compound Sunday night.

One of the suspects, Rebecca Ordoñez alias Mama San, claimed that certain jail guards and MMRC investigators allowed her to stay inside the building.

Elisan, however, declined to divulge the names of the MMRC jailguards and investigators, saying "they are still under investigation." He said the Mandaluyong police arrived at the MMRC last Sunday morning together with a woman, the complainant in a robbery case, looking for a certain Vanessa.

However, drug dependents undergoing rehabilitation at the MMRC reportedly allowed Vanessa to hide at the pig pen at the back of the building, Elisan said.

Still, the police waited until night and was finally able to arrest Vanessa.

But before giving himself up to the lawmen, Vanessa insisted that Ordoñez, who turned out to be hiding at the pig pen as well, should be arrested too.

Elisan said Ordoñez was a former house help of the complainant.

He added that Ordoñez had been rehabilitated for drug use at the MMRC. She frequents the center, where he husband is still undergoing rehabilitation. – Nikko Dizon