Robin Padilla confirms guns, shabu in state pen

MANILA, Philippines - Firearms and illegal drugs have been present among inmates in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) since the 1990s, actor Robin Padilla said yesterday.

During an interview on ANC’s Headstart, Padilla said he owned a .45 caliber pistol while he served his sentence for illegal possession of firearms at the state penitentiary.

“It’s an old story. When I got out of prison I showed it in (my movie) Hari ng Selda,” he said.

Padilla was sentenced to serve 17 years in prison in 1996 based on a martial law decree. He was released in 1998 after a new law reduced the penalty to six years.

He said he saw methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu being “cooked” or prepared at the NBP’s maximum security compound and an inmate carrying an Armalite rfile while jogging in the compound.

‘Hearsay’

NBP superintendent Venancio Tesoro, who used to run the NBP’s medium security compound, told The STAR that Padilla was never detained at the maximum security compound.

“There was speculation at the time about a shabu lab in the maximum security compound but Robin was classified as a medium security inmate. He was only hearing stories,” he said.

Tesoro also belied Padilla’s claim that inmates were free to display weapons, saying that prison guards would have confiscated them. 

He said there were cases in which prisoners were caught with gun replicas brought in by visitors.