Sen. Richard J. Gordon yesterday expressed belief that the killing of former Bureau of Corrections Legal Division chief Fredric Anthony Santos is related to the Good Conduct Time Allowance controversy.
In an early morning television interview, Gordon said the perpetrators of Santos’ killing probably had one goal – to prevent him from becoming a state witness.
Gordon, who led the Senate Committee Justice and Human Rights Committee inquiry into the GCTA controversy, said that while he has no idea what Santos could have divulged had he been given a chance to become a state witness, it may be about his knowledge on corruption within the bureau.
“Of course, he knows a lot. Remember, he is the one in charge of notarizing all the papers of the prisoners. He is close to the prisoners,” he said.
Possibly too, he said, there could have been broken promises and failed deals, and Santos could have already gotten a huge amount of money from those he promised to release from prison but failed to do so.
“He was releasing and releasing prisoners…but news that former Calauan, Laguna mayor Antonio Sanchez was among those included in the GCTA list suddenly blew up,” Gordon said.
“Of course, everyone will be panicking. Money could have already been exchanged along the way, and that eventually cost him his life,” Gordon said.
Santos was shot dead by unidentified gunmen a few meters away from the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City, in front of the school where he was supposed to pick up his daughter last Wednesday.
Santos was one of the witnesses who testified on the GCTA issue.
Sanchez, who was convicted in 1993 for the rape and murder of University of the Philippines-Los Banos students Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Sanchez, was reported to be part of the list of convicted prisoners to be released based on good conduct credits.
Santos and 29 other prison officials were placed under preventive suspension following the controversy last September. (Hannah Torregoza)
