MANILA, Philippines - For the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), 2014 was a year of scandal that saw its transformation from premier prison facility to a center of illegal trade in drugs and guns.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has enlisted the help of law enforcement and intelligence agencies – the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) – to neutralize well-entrenched syndicates operating inside the nine-hectare prison facility.
For the past years, gang leaders “living like kings” have succeeded in continuing to direct their illegal activities from inside the prison, said De Lima.
Last week, law enforcers raided kubols (shelters) at the NBP, leading to the discovery of high-powered guns, drugs, cash amounting to over P2 million, expensive watches and other smuggled items.
At least 19 convicted drug lords, mostly Chinese and Taiwanese, and crime gang leaders were pulled out from their luxury kubols and confined at the extension detention center of the NBI.
Inmates’ privileges such as visitation and good conduct credits were suspended pending investigation of the contraband found inside their secret rooms.
De Lima has ordered a continued crackdown on high profile prisoners to restore the shattered pillar of the justice system in the country.
“We have begun dismantling the kubols of high-risk inmates,” said Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) director Franklin Bucayu.
The BuCor is the fourth pillar of the criminal justice system, which includes law enforcement, prosecution, correction and community.
It is supposed to protect the public and prevent crimes by providing convicted criminals opportunities for reformation for their eventual return to their respective communities.
When a crime is committed, law enforcement plays its role by arresting the suspected criminal, then prosecution files a criminal complaint, courts hear and decide the case and the Bucor implements “the safekeeping of prisoners” sentenced by courts.
The overcrowded NBP, built for 8,700 inmates but now teeming with 23,000 prisoners mostly serving life sentences in the maximum security compound, has created a four-wall community for high profile convicts like drug lords who have practically ruled the prison facility.
Reports of a shabu laboratory, prostitution and other illegal activities began leaking in media.
An NBP source said at least 80 percent of inmates are convicted of heinous crimes. The premier facility has become a permanent asylum for hundreds of drug lords, gambling lords and local “mafiosi.”
“In the four-wall community, there are those categorized as sexually deranged, mentally unstable, criminally insane, violent types and all considered as pure predators,” a source said.
He said from the leaders of various prison gangs operating within the enclosed the facility, gang leaders, mostly drug lords, rise, imposing control and exercising jurisdiction side by side with institutional workers and security personnel.
Haven for foreign drug lords
The proliferation of the illegal drug trade inside the prison has revived the call for the re-imposition of the death penalty as there is no room for reformation of convicted drug lords, Sen. Vicente Sotto III said.
Sotto said the Philippines has become a playground for foreign drug syndicates because convicted drug lords can still operate right in their cells at the NBP.
Because of the lax prison system and the absence of death sentence, drug lords prefer to operate in the Philippines where they can bribe to get their way even while serving life terms, Sotto noted.
A total of 5,872 smuggled items like drugs, improvised weapons and guns, 14 golf carts, electric bikes and air conditioning units were confiscated when shelters at the NBP were raided last week.
To address congestion at the NBP, administrators allowed the kubols to be built at the maximum security compound where wealthy inmates could stay.
This paved the way for inmates to have secret air-conditioned rooms equipped with Internet connection and other amenities like jacuzzi. Makeshift shabu laboratories were also built inside the kubols.
At present, there are 3,790 shift rooms inside dormitories shared by 14,000 inmates at the maximum security compound.
Prostitution
Prostitution is also a problem at the NBP.
Sex workers have managed to enter the prison in connivance with corrupt jail guards and officials to cater to the needs of rich inmates.
To address the problem, the BuCor has imposed a screening policy on female visitors.
At least 101 women who presented bogus papers to gain access to the facility have been arrested.
BuCor has also cut down the number of volunteer groups to prevent the entry of contraband through non-legitimate visitors.
As of Sept. 16, 175 groups were prevented from entering the facility after they were found to be fly-by-night organizations.
Restoring the criminal justice system
The full implementation of the BuCor modernization program will pave the way for the restoration of the country’s correction system.
Bucayu said the review of reformation policies and accomplishments of the rehabilitation program is ongoing.
“Transformation of the NBP into a community-oriented environment through quasi-local government structure is being put in place,” he said.
The pangkat or gang type of organization structures are now renamed “barangays.”
And finally, this year saw the approval of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act 10575 or the BuCor Modernization Act, which provides for professionalization of personnel and restructuring of the system.
The plan includes the transfer of the NBP to Laur, Nueva Ecija to decongest the prison.
“With the many changes being implemented right now, we hope to make the NBP a premier prison facility again,” Bucayu said.