MANILA, Philippines - Thirty-five inmates and four jail guards were injured after more than 200 inmates staged a noise barrage at the Manila City Jail yesterday.
At 10 a.m., members of the Batang City Jail (BCJ) detained at Dorms 9 and 10 went to the roofs of their cells calling for the resignation of jail warden Supt. Gerald Bantag over new policies being implemented in the facility.
Senior Jail Inspector Xavier Solda, spokesman for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), told The STAR it was a noise barrage and not a riot.
Solda said Bantag recently introduced a BJMP policy separating inmates with drug-related cases so they could be given proper interventions such as therapy, physical fitness programs, counseling and spiritual enhancement activities.
“These policies have been introduced to the other jails and it had been relatively productive for the inmates,” he said.
The Batang City Jail group, however, objected and staged a protest.
Supt. Santiago Pascual, Manila Police District-Station 3 commander, told The STAR they were called to secure the perimeter to prevent the commotion from spreading to the other dormitories.
Members of the special weapons and tactics, bomb squad, civil disturbance management and BJMP personnel were seen entering the facility less than 30 minutes after the inmates started their protest.
Seven pointed weapons were confiscated from the scene after the situation was controlled several minutes later.
Bantag said some of those injured either fell to the ground, got wounded while holding signs made from pieces of tin roof or were hurt after stones were thrown.
One inmate is being treated at the city jail’s infirmary.
Bantag, who was a former warden of the Parañaque City Jail but was replaced and assigned to the Manila City Jail after a grenade exploded inside his office on Aug. 13, explained that the BJMP is already implementing the segregation policy, which was laid down to them by the regional unit last Sept. 22.
“Out of the four gangs (Sputnik, Commando, Bahala Na and Batang City Jail), only BCJ opposed the memorandum,” Bantag said.
He stressed that the BJMP had to create such policy to break up the gangs and bust certain interests which they are allegedly protecting, “just like what we are already learning from what was happening inside the New Bilibid Prison where drug use and pushing were so prevalent.”
However, visitors who were prevented from entering the city jail had other stories. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe