MANILA, Philippines — All penal colonies of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) are on lockdown in a bid to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among inmates, an official said yesterday.
“We are under an enhanced community quarantine. Even if Luzon is the only region under quarantine, other (penal farms) also implemented it,” BuCor spokesman Gabriel Chaclag said in an interview.
“We want to make sure that the COVID-19 virus would not enter our penal farms,” he added.
BuCor oversees seven penal colonies – the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), Correctional Institute for Women, Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm, Davao Prison and Penal Farm, San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm and Leyte Regional Prison.
Chaclag said the bureau has identified nine buildings to be used as isolation areas, but no inmates are showing symptoms of COVID-19 so far.
Meanwhile, a group representing political prisoners yesterday called on BuCor to investigate the reported death of an NBP inmate last March 25 of “community-acquired pneumonia vs. Koch’s pneumonia, anemia, congestive heart failure.”
In a statement, Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim said this inmate’s death should be investigated because pneumonia is a “red flag” for COVID-19 at the “overcrowded, ill-equipped national penitentiary.”
NBP Hospital director Henry Fabro has not returned calls and text messages from The STAR.
Chaclag said they have yet to receive a report from the NBP Hospital, but insisted that the NBP does not have any COVID-19 cases.
The NBP currently houses almost 29,000 inmates but has a capacity of only 6,435 inmates, resulting in an occupancy rate of 449 percent and a congestion rate of 348 percent.
The National Capital Region Police Office has begun its crackdown on individuals who pose as police officers, reportedly to extort money, NCRPO chief Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas said yesterday.
In Quezon City, Henry Ysulat, 29, was arrested for allegedly posing as a police officer to get past a quarantine control checkpoint in Barangay Payatas at around 9:30 a.m. on Monday.
Brig. Gen. Ronnie Montejo, Quezon City Police District director, said Ysulat, who wore a complete police uniform, failed to present a valid police identification card, driver’s license and papers for the 9mm pistol and bullets in his possession.
Ysulat is facing charges of usurpation of authority, illegal possession of a firearm and violating the government’s quarantine measures.
In Manila, Rose Ann Gaddi, Cristina Samson, Antonio Samson Jr., Joanna Alejandro, Andrea Nieves, Mary Jane Aliga and Bob Cazzie Nellas were arrested on Monday for allegedly hoarding alcohol and selling it for much higher prices. – With Neil Jayson Servallos, Emmanuel Tupas, Rey Galupo, Janvic Mateo, Marc Jayson Cayabyab