MANILA, Philippines (Updated 4:25 p.m.) — The Bureau of Corrections conducted Oplan Galugad or joint search operations in areas of the New Bilibid Prison following the gang riot last week that left nine inmates dead.
BuCor, in a statement late Monday night, said it conducted Oplan Galugad in quadrants 4 and 3 of the Bilibid and recovered more than 400 prohibited items of bladed weapons and blunt instruments found in corners and compartments of inmates’ cells, temporary shelters and even buried in the ground.
Related Stories
A composite team from BuCor, Muntinlupa City police, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Philippine National Police Special Action Force and National Capital Region Mobile Force Battalion conducted the search.
Tumultuous affray at Quadrant 4-NBP Maximum Security Compound that resulted to Multiple Deaths and Physical Injuries of...
Posted by Bureau of Corrections - BuCor on Friday, October 9, 2020
This comes following the deadly gang riot between members of the Sigue Sigue Commando and Sigue Sigue Sputnik gangs at the Maximum Security Compound early Friday morning.
BuCor said that it conducted the search operation at the two quadrants and its surrounding areas after it received intelligence reports that members of the two gangs are storing and hiding bladed weapons.
BuCor said that a “free-for-all scuffle” happened in the Quadrant 4 of the Bilibid at around 1:00 a.m. of October 9, and went on for more than two hours. It ended at around 3:30 a.m.
Nine bodies were found after the incident while seven inmates were injured.
Guevarra orders deeper probe into deadly gang brawl
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on the same day of the riot ordered BuCor and the National Bureau of Investigation to probe the incident.
He ordered BuCor Director General Gerald Bantag to investigate the incident, and identify all inmates involved in the riot and file complaints against them if warranted.
Guevarra on Tuesday said BuCor handed in a partial report but he told them to “investigate more thoroughly.”
He said that the BuCor partial report merely narrated what transpired during the incident. “What I want to know is how such a violent incident could happen in the wee hours of the morning and last for hours, and why the prison authorities failed to detect and prevent such a huge gang war that left many inmates dead or injured.”
He added that the NBI started its own probe into the incident on Monday.