Jose Antonio Leviste is a high-profile prisoner whose friends say used to enjoy performing magic tricks at parties.
Two weeks ago, his disappearing acts caught up with him after he slipped out of jail to visit his penthouse in the heart of Manila's financial district, Makati.
It was not the first time the 71-year-old former provincial governor had left the grounds of New Bilibid Prison on the outskirts, where he is serving a 12-year sentence for killing his best friend.
Unfortunately someone this time tipped off the authorities and he was discovered along with two other inmates he had brought along with him. Leviste, who said he left prison without permission to see a dentist, will face court next week.
Yesterday, the justice department said that five officials of the prison should be charged with 'misconduct, neglect of duty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service'. Criminal charges were recommended for his jail guard. The department's damning 44-page report also vows to bring about more equal and more humane treatment for all prisoners.
On Monday, prisons chief Ernesto Diokno's resignation was immediately accepted by his personal friend, President Benigno Aquino, ahead of the report's publication. Diokno is the first of Aquino's appointees to leave office under a cloud. The president vowed 'sweeping prison reforms'. Leviste's arrest, he said, lifted the lid on the 'open secret' of corruption in the Philippine justice system.
