BuCor OIC mum on Rolito Go casino trip

MANILA, Philippines - Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer-in-charge Manuel Co refused to comment on news reports that murder convict Rolito Go was spotted playing in a casino in Pampanga the night he was supposedly kidnapped from the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa.

“I could not give any comment on that because that happened before I was not yet the officer-in-charge, and the NBI is still investigating the case,” he told The STAR over the phone on Wednesday night.

Co was appointed after BuCor chief Gaudencio Pangilinan took a leave of absence, pending investigation into Go’s disappearance.

He has yet to receive information about the news report on TV5’s website, www.interaksyon.com, Co said.

Based on the report, witnesses told host Erwin Tulfo that Go was spotted playing baccarat in Casino Filipino. The convicted killer was also “cursing a lot” that night, the report added.

The report said Go, who was convicted for killing Eldon Maguan in 1991, is a regular Casino Filipino client.

Go was seen on Aug. 12, a Sunday, the report added. The convict was reported missing on the night of Aug. 14 – a Tuesday.

Go surfaced on Aug. 15 and claimed that he and nephew Clemence Yu were kidnapped by four men wearing identification cards of the National Bureau of Investigation.

Go said his kidnappers demanded a huge amount. When he refused to pay, the kidnappers set him free and instead gave him bus fare so he can go back to the NBP, where he enjoys a living-out status.

The grant of living-out status allows prisoners to roam around the vast NBP located in the hilly portion of Barangay Poblacion, Muntinlupa.

The privilege was supposedly cancelled for all minimum security prisoners after homicide convict and former Batangas governor Antonio Leviste was caught by the media going in and out of the compound.

Go is staying in the NBP Hospital inside the maximum security compound because of his colon cancer, Co said.