MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The Senate has released the 3 Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officials who were detained at the Senate grounds for contempt last week.

Senator Richard Gordon said in media interview on Thursday, September 19, that they no longer found the need to detain Bilibid hospital doctor Ursicio Cenas, BuCor legal chief Frederic Santos, and BuCor documents chief Ramoncito Roque.

“Nag-usap kami ni Senator Sotto. Sabi ko, there’s no need for us to detain these people because meron kaming natanggap na sulat sa isa sa kanila at naging subject ‘yun ng mga tinatanong ko kanina. And there’s some measure of cooperation,” Gordon said.

(I talked to Senator Sotto. I told him that there’s no need for us to detain these people anymore because we received a letter from one them that became the subject of my questions earlier. And there’s some measure of cooperation.)

JUST IN: Senate orders the release of 3 BuCor officials who were cited in contempt. | via @reyaika pic.twitter.com/r1SrXfoLkC

— Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) September 19, 2019

Senators cited Cenas, Santos, and Roque in contempt on September 12 for “lying” repeatedly during the probe into anomalies in the New Bilibid Prison.

On Wednesday, September 18, the 3 officials filed a petiton for habeas corpus before the Court of Appeals and demanded that Gordon and Senate President Vicente Sotto III answer for their detention.

Of the 3, only Cenas was not preventively suspended by the Ombudsman over the GCTA mess. – Rappler.com