BY MARIO CASAYURAN
The Senate has asked national penitentiary officials to keep Police Major Rodney Baloyo free from coronavirus infection as it is scheduled to resume sometime next week its public hearing on the so-called “ninja cops’’ scandal in Pampanga.
Baloyo has been at the NBP facility since October 2019 after the Senate cited him for contempt for his refusal to testify on the alleged recycling and selling of millions of pesos worth of shabu seized from an alleged Korean drug dealer in Pampanga.
Sen. Richard J. Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, asked Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag to keep Baloyo free from COVID-19 infection while the PNP officer is under his care.
He said he and Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III have decided to keep Baloyo under Senate custody as the Senate tries to unravel corruption at the Pampanga PNP.
Former PNP chief Police Gen. Oscar Albayalde was the superior officer of Baloyo and several other PNP officers and men when the scandal happened.
Several high-profile NBP inmates have died of COVID-19 casualties while inside the national penitentiary.
The Senate decision to request BuCor officials to keep Baloyo healthy was revealed yesterday when Gordon told Senate reporters that he turned down an order from San Fernando (Pampanga) Regional Trial Court (RTC) No. 44 mandating the transfer of Baloyo from the NBP to a Pampanga detention facility.
Gordon said Baloyo could testify before the Senate committee through video conference because there are Wi-Fi facilities at the prison. (Mario Casayuran)
