BJMP: Some CCTV footage of Romualdez in Payatas Jail overwritten

MANILA — Some CCTV footage from the Quezon City Jail in Payatas has already been overwritten, a Bureau of Jail Management and Penology official testified before the Sandiganbayan Third Division on Monday.

Jail Superintendent Maria Lourdes Pacion made the admission when asked by the court if all CCTV recordings dating back to former House Speaker Martin Romualdez’s commitment to the facility in September are still available.

“No, your honor. It is overwritten. I don’t know the technicalities,” Pacion said.

Some CCTV systems automatically record over old footage when storage is full. 

This comes after columnist Ramon Tulfo retracted his allegations that Pacion had ordered a power interruption to prevent CCTV cameras from recording Romualdez’s movements in and out of the detention facility.

Pacion returned to court to submit reports on the CCTV system’s status and maintenance, as well as footage covering the period from Romualdez’s commitment on September 14 to November 4.

The court had also ordered her to submit a notarized report detailing Romualdez’s whereabouts based on CCTV recordings, vehicle entry and exit logbooks, ambulance-use records, and the identities of individuals allowed to personally assist him during his detention.

Pacion also clarified her earlier testimony that Romualdez had a personal assistant who could assist him inside the Payatas jail.

She identified the assistant as Arvin De Guzman and said he was allowed to enter the facility only during visiting hours, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Outside those hours, he is on call outside BJMP premises.

“Sometimes he stays outside the perimeter, outside the pedestrian lane,” Pacion said.

She explained that she failed to provide this detail during the previous hearing because she was nervous.

Associate Justice Karl Miranda reminded Pacion that she is testifying under oath.

Pacion said she approved a request from Romualdez’s lawyer to allow De Guzman to be on call around the clock because of the former speaker’s health concerns.

She had previously described her decision as an act of “human consideration.”

Pacion said she saw Romualdez taking sertraline, a medication she understood could affect his psychomotor functions, which she considered in approving the request.

Miranda told Pacion, however, that she should not have relied only on her assessment “because you are not his doctor.”

Pacion said she did not seek clearance from her superiors but maintained that she did not violate any rules. She added that De Guzman’s entries and exits as a visitor were recorded in the facility’s logbook.

Miranda said he would visit the Payatas jail on Monday afternoon to personally ask facility personnel about the arrangement.

He said he has been visiting jails for over two decades to check on PDLs but had “never ever encountered an instance that they allowed me to stay the whole day inside the prison.”

Romualdez’s lawyer Jose “Judd” Roy III confirmed that they had requested permission for De Guzman to assist the former speaker after his transfer to the Payatas facility.

“Nagbabakasakali lang naman kami. We just left it at that. Mukha namang sinupervise ng superintendent so wala naman kaming worries,” he added.

(We just took a a chance. We just left it at that. It seems the superintendent supervised it to we had no worries.)

He said De Guzman had been Romualdez’s personal assistant for a long time and is familiar with the medications and diet the former speaker needs.