Prison is no longer the great leveler!

“Friendship over experience and competence” was the title of yesterday’s editorial in The FREEMAN and it refers to the appointment by Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III of Mr. Domingo Lee as the new Philippine Ambassador to China, a name no one has ever heard of because he was never in the foreign service or even a diplomat nor was he even in the social limelight. However, his claim to fame is that he is a family friend of the President… that in this new dispensation, that speaks volumes about the man, regardless of how obscure he is to the nation.

The editorial obviously expresses its support for our dear friend, former Philippine Ambassador to China, his Excellency Frank Benedicto whom Mr. Lee replaces. Indeed I concur with this observation as Amb. Frank is considered one of the most experienced diplomats in this country for having served three Presidents and represented the Philippines in Singapore, Korea, Canada, Brazil, India and China, hence it is indeed unfortunate that the President chose a neophyte to be Ambassador to China, especially in these difficult times when the Chinese has show uncanny belligerence against Filipino vessels found in the disputed Spratlys Islands.

What can we expect from Pres. PNoy who himself went to Malacañang for an “On-the-Job-Training” (OJT) like the rest his team at the Palace. No wonder the Aquino Administration has wasted too much time because they are still adjusting to their roles in the government. Honestly, I don’t blame PNoy and his team… the blame is squarely on the shoulders of the Filipino voter who voted Aquino as President.

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When a person gets convicted of a crime and lands in jail, he or she loses a lot of civil liberties and personal amenities in life. This is why going to jail should be considered a harrowing experience designed to make life difficult for the convicted as a way for the rest of the community to prevent criminals from being integrated into the mainstream of society. Indeed life in prison is a hard life or so they say! Prison is supposed to be a great equalizer.

But apparently, the great divide between “the haves and the have nots” in the outside world is also prevalent inside our prison walls, specifically inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) our nation’s premier prison, where all the hardened criminals are placed. Thanks to unbridled corruption within the prison system, the media was able to see first hand how harsh life is indeed for the poor prisoners, who more often than not, three prisoners have to sleep or share a single bunk because of congestion inside the jail.

But for the rich prisoners, life is a bit better, even better than the poor who live in the outside world. What the media footages revealed to us were special motel like cubicles for prisoners who don’t want to share a bunk with the rabble. They even include TV sets (I’m not sure if they had Cable TV) including DvD players, karaoke machines, billiard tables and even toys. All this we saw on television happening inside the New Bilibid Prison.

Thanks to the dancing inmates, we’ve visited the Cebu Provincial Jail so often; we never saw this kind of anomaly there. However, I have never seen what’s inside the newly constructed Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) up there in Beverly Hills. But I do recall that the last time we visited the BBRC was when it was still in what is now the AsiaTown I.T. Park where celebrated inmate Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) demi-God Ruben Ecleo was incarcerated and yes, he had a special covered bunk that he shared with his girlfriend.

I don’t know what happened to the top prison official when that anomaly was found, but I’m certain that if he was relieved or removed from the BBRC, he must have been transferred to another prison where he could find another opportunity to extract grease money from rich prisoners. Imagine, if this is happening to the New Bilibid Prison, I’m absolutely certain that it is happening to all the prisons in this nation. Of course now that the cat is out of the bag, I’m sure that those corrupt prison officials have already gone out of their way to remove those special privileges, lest the media also got hold of their corruption. Clearly, prison is no longer the great leveler!

When the Aquino administration came into power, just a month later, the Hong Kong hostage incident blew up in his face on Aug. 23rd to reveal the ineptitude of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and how corruption had permeated into the very core of its officialdom. After all, the hostage taker was a decorated PNP officer. Now the nation is seeing corruption in the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor). Let’s hope that all these will be totally eliminated under the Aquino administration.

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