A case of shooting the messenger?

Quezon City Jail Warden Col. Maria Lourdes Pacion is reportedly trying to smoke out the persons who leaked information to DAILY TRIBUNE on the alleged preferential treatment given to former Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. in detention.

The “witch hunt” was revealed yesterday after both Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) vowed to get to the bottom of the matter.

The inquiry follows an exclusive report by this paper that Revilla has allegedly been receiving special privileges inside the Quezon City Jail in Payatas, including staying in an air-conditioned room separate from the regular cells.

Remulla said he will personally look into the allegations.

“I will check it out. I haven’t been to Payatas since I showed it to the press two months ago. I will make sure everything is set right,” Remulla told DAILY TRIBUNE.

According to sources at the Quezon City Jail, Revilla is housed in a separate air-conditioned room that has a “special comfort room” for visitors. The room is reportedly located near Pacion’s office inside the Payatas facility.

Advance warning

Sources said jail personnel believed to be close to Pacion — including some reportedly from her province of Cagayan — were assigned to the corridors leading to the area where Revilla is being held.

“There are JO1s (Jail Officer 1) assigned at the gates who are her people. So when someone is still far from the gate, those inside have already been alerted,” the sources said.

The guards would warn personnel inside if someone was attempting to check on Revilla’s detention arrangements, a source added.

Emergency meeting

BJMP spokesperson Col. Jayrex Bustinera said the bureau has launched an investigation into the reported special treatment supposedly extended to Revilla.

BJMP sources confirmed that an “emergency command conference” was held at the national level following the publication of the TRIBUNE report.

At the same time, Bustinera suggested that the sources quoted by the TRIBUNE might simply be “disgruntled” personnel unhappy with Pacion’s management of the facility.

Several personnel were reportedly dispatched to the Quezon City Jail to conduct an investigation.

In the record book

Sources at the jail said Revilla is officially listed in the “carpeta,” on which the cell number of each inmate is recorded.

“He is listed in the carpeta,” one source said; however, he claimed Revilla does not actually stay in that cell.

“When no one is watching, he stays in air-conditioned quarters designated and designed by Pacion,” the source said.

“He does not sleep in the cell. He stays in an exclusive room with air-conditioning. It was built for him,” the source added.

Other sources said that “if someone comes to verify, he is listed in the carpeta — for example, in Cell No. 1 — but that exists only in the records. In reality, he has his own room upstairs.”

The room, according to a source, is located near Pacion’s office.

Cases filed

Revilla is facing a malversation case involving a ghost flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan.

His co-accused — former DPWH Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office officials Brice Hernandez, Arjay Domasig, Juanito Mendoza and Christina Pineda — have filed bail petitions before the Sandiganbayan.

Revilla is also facing a separate graft case related to the same flood control project, for which he has posted P90,000 bail.

The former senator was implicated in the flood control controversy after former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo claimed Revilla received kickbacks in exchange for endorsing flood control projects.

According to the Office of the Ombudsman, the respondents allegedly conspired to facilitate the release of around P76 million for a flood control project that was never built.

PDAF scam

In 2014, Revilla was arrested and detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame after he was charged with plunder for allegedly funneling P224 million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund allocation to bogus non-government organizations linked to Janet Lim Napoles.

The Sandiganbayan acquitted him of plunder in December 2018 but convicted him on several counts of graft, for which he was sentenced to prison terms of up to six years per count.

The anti-graft court ruled that although the prosecution did not prove plunder beyond a reasonable doubt, the evidence indicated that Revilla had benefited from kickbacks linked to PDAF-funded projects.

Revilla has consistently denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that he was the victim of fabricated accusations at the height of the pork barrel controversy.

The former senator, who previously served as Cavite governor before returning to the Senate, has repeatedly been in and out of detention amid his ongoing legal battles.

His previous incarceration at Camp Crame became controversial at the time due to allegations that high-profile detainees were receiving privileges not available to ordinary inmates.