Convicted kidnapper Jaybee Sebastian used his status as government asset to monopolize the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) by having his competitors transferred, a witness told lawmakers in a hearing Thursday.
Nonito Arile, a former policeman and now a convict, testified to the power Sebastian supposedly wielded inside the national penitentiary when Senator Leila de Lima was justice secretary at the resumption of the House of Representatives' hearing on the drug trade inside the NBP.
"Si Jaybee ay kilalang 'untouchable' at 'malakas' dito sa Bilibid. Ito ay sa kadahilanang regular siyang nagbibigay ng malaking halaga ng pera kina dating Secretary Leila de Lima ng Department of Justice at Director [Franklin] Bucayu ng Bureau of Corrections,” Arile said in his affidavit, which he read before members of the House justice committee.
Arile, who was convicted of murder and kidnapping, said he was aware that Sebastian helped raise money for De Lima's senatorial campaign because they had talked about it when the latter came to him for advice.
He said sometime in 2014, Sebastian boasted about the imminent transfer of certain inmates who were also allegedly operating their own drug business inside the NBP. He said the money he will earn from monopolizing the drug trade inside the NBP will help bankroll De Lima's senatorial campaign in the 2016 elections.
"Nasabi din sa akin ni Jaybee na mapapalipat niya ang kanyang mga kakumpetensta sa negosyo dahil siya ay ‘asset’ ni Sec. De Lima at Dir. Bucayu sa kalakaran ng droga sa loob ng Bilibid. Lahat ng ito ay plinano nina Jaybee dahil pinangakuan siya ng absolute pardon ni Sec. De Lima na ilalakad daw nito kay Presidente Aquino," he said.
Arile said Sebastian’s pronouncement came true when high-profile inmates—the so-called “Bilibid 19”—were moved out of the maximum security compound after the raid led by De Lima and agents from the National Bureau of Investigation in December 2014.
De Lima, who denied benefiting from the drug trade inside the NBP, said earlier Sebastian was a government asset.
As a government asset himself, Arile said he was able to get hold of the Banco de Oro account number where Sebastian’s earnings from the drug trade were allegedly deposited. He said the account number was under the account name “Coco Jewelry Shop.”
Three weeks prior to the conduct of a raid code-named “Oplan Galugad,” Arile claimed to have seen P65 million in cash kept inside a cigarette box inside the huts of inmate Sam Li Chua. Following the raid, however, he said news broke out inside the national penitentiary that jewelry, guns and luxury items worth around P300,000 were lost.
He said he wrote about the loss that occurred during the raid in a letter addressed to President Rodrigo Duterte and Philippine National Police chief Director General Roland dela Rosa dated August 2016.
source:gmanews
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