PerryScope
by Perry Diaz
Antonio Leviste (center) with arresting NBI agents
The recent “prison break” scandal at the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) brought to the forefront of debate the issue of perks and privileges enjoyed by a select number of prisoners at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinglupa City. It’s common knowledge that at NBP – or “Munti” as it is commonly known – there are prisoners who have “living-out” status. They don’t stay in jail cells but are provided with segregated housing inside the prison grounds, which could include private bathroom, kitchen, refrigerator, and other amenities not found in regular jail cells. To these privileged few, it’s like living in a vacation resort – a home away from home — all paid for by the government.
Some prisoners even have “stay-out” privileges; that is, they are allowed to go out of prison without any security escort. And nobody seems to mind this arrangement until National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents caught a convicted killer – former Batangas governor Jose Antonio Leviste – in Makati City. And then all hell broke loose!
It turned out that it was not the first time that Leviste ventured out of prison. In the past, he had the permission of the BuCor Director. But this time around, Director Ernesto “Totoy” Diokno was not aware of Leviste’s latest caper.
Immediately, President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III summoned Diokno – his longtime friend and appointee – to Malacañang to explain the unusual incident, which happened last May 18, 2011. They met two days later in Malacañang, which lasted for only 10 minutes. P-Noy indicated that he was not satisfied with Diokno’s explanation; however, he did not elaborate. But after several groups asked P-Noy to fire Diokno, Malacañang announced that P-Noy was “not inclined to exercise his disciplinary powers immediately over his appointee.” Déjà vu.
Privileged prisoner
After getting a lot of heat, P-Noy asked Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila de Lima to conduct an investigation and submit a report by May 25. De Lima did as told — she created the DOJ panel and summoned Leviste to testify. Leviste told the panel that he was under the “illusion” that “he had already become part of the official BuCor family for the tree-planting program he had launched as an inmate and therefore could leave prison premises without authority.”
To drive his point across, Leviste claimed that P-Noy was aware of his tree-planting program. He said that P-Noy even issued Executive Order No. 26 directing some government agencies to support the tree-planting program for six years. He also said that P-Noy revised his plan and increased the target to 1.5 billion trees planted within six years, which will be funded initially with P1 million drawn from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).
Leviste bragged that he also told P-Noy that he can plant 1.5 billion trees within four months if he would be allowed to reach out to the barangays (barrios) all over the country and form “troops of environmentalists.” Privileged prisoner, indeed.
Tree-planting program
Expectedly – and strangely – Malacañang denied all of Leviste’s claims calling him a liar. However, P-Noy had indeed signed Executive Order No. 26 last February 24, 2011, which mandated “the National Greening Program to harmonize all greening efforts in the country, including the planting of 1.5 billion trees covering about 1.5 million hectares nationwide for a period of six years, from 2011 to 2016.” Although Leviste was not credited by P-Noy for the tree-planting program, one wonders if the tree-planting program was Leviste’s brainchild and that P-Noy was aware of it.
The question that comes to mind is: Did P-Noy and Leviste make contacts, directly or indirectly, in regard to Executive Order No. 26 or the tree-planting program? Or did Leviste conjure “ownership” of the tree-planting program and link it to Executive Order No. 26 to justify his claim that he is now part of the official BuCor family for the tree-planting program?
But regardless of whether the tree-planting program was real or just a figment of his imagination, the fact remains that Leviste did not have a written or verbal authorization to leave the prison compound last May 18, 2011. But the fact that a prisoner can do that at will is a major breach in prison security. That would make Diokno complicit to an act that contravenes the very nature of a prison system; that is, to incarcerate convicted felons and keep them away from society until they have served their sentence.
Ernesto "Totoy" Diokno
Privileged friends
Meanwhile, in a one-on-one meeting between De Lima and Diokno, the former asked the latter to resign to “insulate P-Noy from any political backlash” as a result of Leviste’s “prison break.” But instead of resigning, Diokno took a leave of absence ignoring calls for his resignation, which seems to suggest that he still has the trust and confidence of P-Noy.
It seems that P-Noy is not yet ready to abandon his friend, Totoy. “Obviously, someone did not do his job,” said P-Noy. “The question is, who and how many of them needed to [be] set right? Can they still be reformed or is it necessary for them to be relieved?” What that’s telling me is that no heads will roll… except for a couple of low-paid jail guards who De Lima already relieved of their jobs. Indeed, it can be said that if something went wrong, the easy way out is to look for scapegoats and reward the guilty to seal their mouths.
This reminds me of P-Noy’s “shooting buddy,” Rico E. Puno, whom he didn’t have the courage to fire or re-assign from his position as Undersecretary of the Interior and Local Government. Instead, what Puno got was a slap on the wrist and a three-month “training” at the United States’ FBI Academy in New York. I wouldn’t be surprise if all that Diokno would get is a pinch in the ear and a three-month “training” at San Quentin Prison in California. Yes, that’s what privileged friends get for incompetence: a slap on the wrist or pinch in the ear and an all-expenses-paid junket to the U.S.
And P-Noy would continue walking the “matuwid na daan” (straight path), leading by example and hoping that it would encourage his appointed friends not to digress or take a detour. And this is the hardest part of being a leader. You don’t expect everybody – not even your friends – to walk a straight path.
If P-Noy wants to succeed in fulfilling his election promise, “Walang corrupt, walang mahirap,” then he should – nay, must! — lead objectively with a grain of compassion and a little dose of ruthlessness; that is, get rid of those who can’t walk the straight path. That would send a clear and strong message to everybody in government that under his watch there is no other way but “matuwid na daan.”
Mr. President, it’s time to kick ass, fire Diokno!
No comments:
Post a Comment