Custodial protocols and surveillance integrity within government detention facilities remain under strict public scrutiny as state officials open facility records to counter claims of administrative misconduct and preferential treatment for high-profile detainees.
Interior Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla on Thursday dismissed as mere “tsismis” or gossip the reports that former House Speaker Martin Romualdez was allowed to go out of his cell at the Quezon City Jail without a court order.
Remulla said closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showed no infraction on the part of Romualdez in the past three months of his detention at the city jail.
“That’s only gossip. But I invite all of you (media) to join me and to view the CCTV footage for the entire duration that he has been there,” Remulla said.
“We have the entire CCTV (footage). I am inviting you (media) to join me and see (the footage) taken in the last three months, every day,” Remulla also said.
Columnist Ramon Tulfo on Wednesday alleged that the Quezon City Jail had allowed Romualdez to go out of the jail, using the backdoor stairs where an ambulance was waiting to transport him to his destination.
Tulfo also claimed that the jail warden would cut off power to the jail facility to ensure that Romualdez’s departure from his cell would not be recorded on CCTV.
“I invite the media to serve as witness and to peruse all the records of the BJMP (Bureau of Jail Management and Penology) if there is special treatment (given to Romualdez), and see if he allowed to go out because the allegation is that he is allowed to go out,” Remulla also said.
“It is not true and I categorically deny it and invite all of you to look at the footage to see once and for all that no one was allowed to go out of the BJMP (without court order),” Remulla added.
Romualdez, a cousin of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., is detained at the Quezon City Jail for plunder in relation to the anomalous flood control, infrastructure and other government projects amounting to P7.4 billion.
BJMP chief Director Efren Nemeño had earlier ordered a thorough probe into the incident. He said the bureau is taking “seriously” the allegation.
In a social media post on Thursday, Tulfo admitted he was fed a wrong information about the irregularity in the detention of Romualdez.
“One of the most embarrassing and humiliating experiences as a journalist is to admit that nakuryente ako. Nakuryente means I was fed the wrong information and accepted it as gospel truth,” Tulfo said.
Tulfo said it was embarrassing and humiliating, noting that his readers took his word.
“No such thing happened when the facts started coming in yesterday. It was fiction. I goofed. No excuses. I should have first checked and cross-checked that report I received on Romualdez,” Tulfo also said.