Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) chairman Arsenio "Boy" Evangelista will ask the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) to look into the condition of convicted carnapper Raymond Dominguez who was said to have caught COVID-19 inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.
Evangelista fears that Dominguez may suffer the same fate as Jaybee Sebastian whose death gained much attention and speculation.
Evangelista said will ask the court to have a third party look into Dominguez's situation and if anything out of the ordinary should occur to him, the judge will have to be notified before any action should be taken.
He maintains that the BuCor should be transparent with the condition of the inmate.
On Saturday, news of Dominguez's supposed death in a public hospital spread which the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) later refuted. Its spokesperson, Gabriel Chaclag, said that Dominguez is in Site Harry, the national penitentiary's isolation center for COVID-19 patients.
This comes just less than a week after the reported deaths of several high profile inmates Sebastian; Hung Kin Sing Jimmy, alias "Jimmy Ang"; Benjamin Marcelo; Eugene Chua; Willy Yang; Amin Boratong; Sherwin Sanchez; Shu Zhang; and Francis Go.
The BuCor since then has been hounded by much criticism for withholding the information to the public. It can be remembered that when reporters found out about Sebastian's death, he was already cremated in Cavite.
Deaths of other inmates were soon confirmed as well. News about their health and condition were never made public. BuCor chief Gerald Bantag cited the Data Privacy Act which senators argued cannot be used as the issue is of public interest.
Evangelista seeks to prevent this situation from happening again. Dominguez, along with his brother Roger, are alleged leaders of a notorious carnapping syndicate. Both of them are suspects to the death of Evangelista's son Venson as well as two other victims Emerson Lozano, son of Atty. Oliver Lozano, and his driver Ernane Sensil in January 2011.