A MAN convicted of homicide in Ilocos Norte has accused Justice Secretary Leila de Lima of overstepping her authority by ordering his transfer from the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters in Manila on December 15, 2014.
Jojo A. Baligad filed a four-page complaint-affidavit against de Lima and former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director Franklin Jesus Bucayu on Friday before the Ombudsman and accused them of maltreating prisoners.
Marlon Llauder, Baligad’s counsel, said the complaint was lodged against de Lima and Bucayu since the transfer of the complainant to the NBI detention facility in Manila is a form of harsh punishment, punishable under Article 235 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC.)
Article 235 provides that “the penalty of prision correccional in its medium period to prision mayor in its minimum period, in addition to his liability for the physical injuries or damage caused, shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who shall overdo himself in the correction or handling of a prisoner or detention prisoner under his charge, by the imposition of punishments not authorized by the regulations, or by inflicting such punishments in a cruel and humiliating manner.”
Baligad stressed in his complaint that “upon the direct order of Justice Secretary de Lima, I was illegally and unlawfully transferred from the National Bilibid Prison Maximum Security Compound at Muntinlupa City to the NBI Building, Taft Avenue, Manila.”
He added: “Up to the present, I am still detained at the NBI building, where, from the time of my relocation here, I have been subjected to inhuman, cruel and undignified treatment at the hands of my jailers in carrying out the order of de Lima.”
Baligad’s complaint has been bolstered by the fact that detained persons at the NBI are not exposed to sunlight, which makes them lose the valuable nutrient vitamin D, which the body manufactures when exposed to sunlight.
The complainant argued that there was no basis at all for him to be hauled off to the NBI detention center along with other NBP prisoners on December 15, 2014.
“My record of imprisonment will show that I am not infected with any disease, nor am I a violent person, nor am I a security risk, nor am I a special prisoner for that matter. I am just a regular prisoner and this does not warrant my removal from the prison facility in Muntinlupa City,” he said.
“My transfer to the NBI building has no basis in law and in whatever regulation. In fact, Section 26 of the Administrative Code of 1987 mandates that BuCor shall have the principal task of rehabilitating the prisoners,” Baligad told the Ombudsman.
“De Lima, as secretary of justice, has no power, authority nor the discretion upon her sole whim to order my transfer together with 18 other inmates to the NBI building as it contravenes the Administrative Code of 1987,” he said in the complaint.
“My confinement here at the NBI building has affected my physical, emotional and mental health, as well as my spiritual needs due to the harsh living conditions and visiting restrictions imposed on my lawyer, family and health workers,” Baligad argued.
“I have suffered weight loss, sleepless nights, serious anxiety, and psychological and mental torture such that my transfer to the NBI building was meant to inflict cruel, unusual, inhumane and humiliating treatment upon me,” he said.
“Thus, I am not just under-going incarceration as a result of my conviction, but my jailers, upon the express order of de Lima, have overly done so in violation of the Administrative Code of 1987, which falls within the ambit of Article 235 of the RPC,” Baligad’s affidavit also said.