BBM spox poseur faces cybercrime charge

Castillejo is under investigation and he faces appropriate punishment for violating prison rules

The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) will be imposing sanctions on Ryan Ace Castillejo, the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) inmate who managed to pose as lawyer Vic Rodriguez, the spokesperson of presumptive president Bongbong Marcos Jr., and solicited donations through social media.

Castillejo, who is detained at the maximum security compound in Muntinlupa City, had been convicted of two counts of qualified theft.

BuCor deputy director general Gabriel Chaclag said sanctions will be imposed on Castillejo, while stricter measures will be imposed to prevent persons deprived of liberty (PDL) from committing further offenses while serving their terms.

Castillejo is under investigation and he faces appropriate punishment for violating prison rules.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said, even if he is already serving a jail term, charges of cybercrime will be still be filed against him.

Guevarra has also ordered a deeper probe into the incident, since “possession by a PDL of a mobile phone is strictly prohibited in the NBP, most especially in the maximum security compound.”

At around 7 p.m. last Monday, BuCor personnel conducted surprise search operations inside the NBP maximum security compound targeting Castillejo.

Together with the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) Special Action Unit, the operatives retrieved a smartphone inside his cell.

Mobile phones and other communications devices are considered contraband items and their possession by PDL is strictly prohibited under prison rules and regulations.

Aside from the phone, the NBI also discovered notebooks containing names of possibly past or prospective victims.