CALAMBA, Philippines — President Duterte bared plans to acquire aircraft for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to better equip the agency for transfering high-profile criminals from one place to another.
Duterte recognized that there were incidents when personnel risk their lives and detainees escape from custody.
“We’ll have to devise a way of transporting criminals, especially in Mindanao, which is fraught with so many dangers. We’ll have to look for it,” he said during the deployment of some 300 new prisoner vans at Camp Vicente Lim here.
He said he was serious about modernizing the Armed Forces.
“Totoo hindi ako nagyayabang (That’s true. I’m not boasting.) But that would – only when it is being transported from one province to another. And you get to travel a lonely stretch. Talagang ma-ambush kayo (You will really be ambushed),” he said.
“I will look for an airplane. Maybe one for Mindanao and the Visayas when we are transferring a high-profile or a high-value target,” he said.
Duterte cited the importance of equipping his men to lower the risks.
He said he had doubled their compensation and it’s time for them to give back to the people by providing better service.
“You know, hindi ko kayo binobola (I’m not kidding). I’d rather lose five airplanes than lose a soldier or guard or a policeman. Masakit kaya ‘yan. Basta magbili ako (That hurts. I will buy) ” he said.