Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 19) — Three officials from the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor)

and the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) have been released Thursday after a week of detention in the Senate.

Senator Richard Gordon said Dr. Ursicio Cenas of the NBP hospital, BuCor lawyer Fredric Anthony Santos,
and BuCor documents processing chief Ramoncito "Chito" Roque are now free a week after the Senate
Blue Ribbon Committee ordered their detention.

Gordon said their release came after he and Senate President Tito Sotto talked and decided that there's
no more reason to keep the three officials detained after they became "more forthright" with the
committee.

"Ang nakakainis lang naman kasi is we're asking questions and hindi nila alam 'yung nangyayari. Now
that there's some measure of cooperation on their part and there's clarity sa nangyayari ngayon sa
Bureau of Corrections, I think it's important na we go on with the main task ahead," Gordon told
reporters after Thursday's hearing.

The focus now is reforming the prison system "that's rotten to the core," the senator added.

Lawmakers cited the three officials in contempt for "continuously lying to the committee" and submitting
erroneous documents to the panel. Gordon ordered during the September 12 hearing that Cenas,
Santos, and Roque will be detained within Senate premises until they satisfy the requirements or
demands set by the Blue Ribbon Committee.

Santos and Roque were questioned about applications for early releases granted by the BuCor even to
convicts of heinous crimes, while Cenas was accused of accepting bribes to admit drug lords into the
Bilibid hospital despite having no serious illness.

READ: Drug lords camp, transact in Bilibid hospital for months – witness
The three officials ran to the Court of Appeals on Wednesday, saying the Senate body violated their right
to due process. They asked the court to issue a writ of habeas corpus and eventually declare their arrest
and detention unlawful. The court has told the Senate to respond to the petition of the three officials.