Bilibid maximum security chief, 700 guards replaced

MANILA, Philippines — Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. yesterday replaced the supervisor of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP)’s maximum security compound and all 700 prison guards at the compound.

Catapang told reporters that Sr. Insp. Purificacion Hari would replace Chief Insp. Lucio Guevarra as the compound’s superintendent.

Hari was formerly the compound’s commander of the guard.

Catapang also said 700 guards at the compound were relieved from their posts to undergo retraining for a month.

“I have been planning (the relief of the guards) for a while now. I want to retrain all of them, because what they are doing at work is really wrong,” he told reporters in Filipino.

He said some guards stay home and “ask someone to sign their attendance.” Other guards tampered with closed-circuit television cameras, according to Catapang.

He also alleged that some guards accepted bribes in locker rooms and others loitered in the NBP’s agro-industrial park when they were supposed to be on duty.

The guards who violated the BuCor’s regulations face administrative and criminal charges, he said.

The 700 erring personnel will be replaced by 335 guards, a figure that Catapang said will be enough since the bureau is now using technology to monitor the persons deprived of liberty.

The BuCor has purchased 76 body cameras with GPS devices that the guards will wear while on duty, Catapang said.

BuCor data shows the maximum security compound housed 18,447 prisoners as of March. The compound holds a majority of the NBP’s 30,243 inmate population.

Hari met briefly with the leaders of the gangs among the inmates, who said they are willing to work together to maintain the peace in the compound.