EDITORIAL - Questions worth answering

The Department of Justice is now looking into the death of several high-profile inmates at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City. One of these inmates is reported to be convicted kidnapper and infamous drug lord Jaybee Sebastian.

While Bureau of Corrections director General Gerard Bantag confirmed that several Bilibid inmates died recently, he fell short of confirming that Sebastian was among those who died or that he died of COVID-19, citing privacy concerns.

Sebastian is not only controversial for his testimony against Senator Leila de Lima, he was also notorious for treating the prison like his own personal country club. His wealth and power allowed him to live like a king even as he was behind bars. He was able to surround himself with luxuries and even ordered the construction of a swimming pool for his own quarters.

Reports also said he was still able to manage his drug business even as he was in prison.

According to a death certificate obtained by the media, Sebastian died of acute myocardial infarction related to COVID-19 at the NBP Hospital last Friday. Nobody apart from jail, hospital, and funeral parlor personnel were able to see the body. No autopsy was conducted on the body which was quickly cremated.

Now tongues are wagging if Sebastian really died of COVID-19 or if he was murdered after ignoring threats to stop running his drug empire.

There is another more disturbing conspiracy theory. That Sebastian isn’t really dead and was surreptitiously released as reward for his testimony against De Lima. That it was actually another prisoner who died of COVID-19 but authorities just passed that prisoner off as Sebastian so no questions will be asked.

While this sounds really preposterous and highly unlikely, this time of the pandemic is actually the perfect time to pull off such a caper; relatives of the dead are discouraged from holdings wakes and bodies of the deceased, especially suspected COVID-19 cases, are encouraged to be cremated as quickly as possible.

The DOJ is faced with a difficult task to prove that Sebastian was really one of those who died and if he died of COVID-19 or foul play. It won’t be an easy task, considering the body has been cremated, but these are questions still worth answering.