Renewed hope unless…

The recent appointment of Jay Art Tugade (the son of former DOTr Secretary Tugade) as Assistant Secretary of the Land Transportation Office has given the numerous multimillion-peso investors on Private Motor Vehicle Inspection Centers “renewed hope” that their once controversial project that was challenged in Congress and went to “limbo” may get a second lease in life or may even be shepherded by Tugade the Son for full implementation in spite of failing to comply with certain requirements, if not laws, pertaining to such establishments or facilities.

One of the key issues raised in the Senate was the absence of announcements from the LTO or DOTr back then soliciting proposals for such a project and the subsequent public bidding for Private Vehicle Testing Centers, which is normally a standard operating procedure. Another point against the project was why the centers prioritized private vehicles and not public transportation or commercial vehicles that generally fail to fully comply with equipment and safety standards for such vehicles.

There was also the excessive +/- 70-point test that practically guaranteed that only new cars would pass the test and scared the daylights out of older car owners. Whatever the case or complaints may be, I sincerely hope that Asec. Tugade – the son — will have enough wisdom to distance himself from that disastrous mistake committed under his father’s watch. The LTO has more than enough problems, needed action and solutions and the last thing a smart lawyer like himself would want to get embroiled in is to shepherd controversy into his office.

On the other hand, will members of Congress, particularly senators, suddenly develop amnesia and conveniently forget their objections to the project under the new dispensation or will it still be a No Go? Or will they require the whole thing to be scrapped and start all over through public bidding. Hope springs eternal, especially for those who are already P50- to P100 million-plus in the hole! Perhaps the best thing to do is for the current administration to simply start from scratch.

There is no denying the need for modern testing facilities for vehicles as well as the fact that a partnership with private sector investors is the fastest and most practical solution, but laws have to be followed and fast-tracking projects should not be at the expense of public consultation and adherence to the law.

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With all the problems, controversies, as well as criminality that continue to come out of the New Bilibid Prison, we have to ask why the NBP has not been chopped up into regional or provincial prisons as so many former NBP directors have proposed to Congress. Administration after administration, the Bilibid penitentiary has hogged the front pages and newscasts because of various major criminal incidents that are traced back to inside the NBP.

Why does the national government not dismantle and convert the six-hectare facility into a site for government housing projects in support of the recent announcement of President BBM that they would convert government lands to make space for public housing? Who is protecting and is behind the continued existence of the Bilibid prison?

From the looks of it, millions and millions of pesos exchange hands in and outside the NBP, both for good and bad. Based on so many interviews of prison officials, PNP, NBI and AFP, different criminal groups operate from inside Bilibid with impunity and every prison director is forced to deal or cooperate with the different gangs and gang leaders as well high-profile prisoners, particularly those who have connections with politicians.

People are killed inside and outside, contract killings in the past alleged hit men being allowed to exit the facility to execute a target, rich prisoners getting to leave the facility based on the flimsiest excuse. Gang wars, drug manufacturing and drug dealing for customers from within and outside NBP, illegal sale of alcohol and contraband to prisoners as well as prostitution.

Last Wednesday, during an interview on AGENDA, former NBP director Dionisio Santiago confirmed hearing about the illegal sale of human organs, specifically kidneys. It would be very interesting to know if these allegations or stories will be confirmed based on autopsies and anatomy studies of the 120-plus cadavers that piled up in a funeral parlor that services the Bilibid.

He also shared how politicians would pay special visits to prisoners whose clans, leaders or relatives have remained as political influencers in certain provinces or districts, in order to get their endorsement and votes from inside the prison walls.

Officials and experts have said time and again that the prison population is approximately six times more than the original design of the Bilibid. The spokesman of the Department of Justice recently shared that Bilibid is ideal for hiding illegal materials or contraband because much of its area is natural soil or earth, unlike modern prisons that have floors and walls that are steel reinforced concrete. Ret. Gen. Santiago shared a related matter when he told me that the steel mattings for beds regularly disappeared because prisoners would rip or tear them off and turn them into deadly weapons.

Congress has to dismantle the current system of large penitentiaries, particularly the Bilibid, if the government, particularly the DOJ, wants to put a complete stop to the MAFIA INC. inside Bilibid. A law has to be passed that will shift incarceration from national to provincial and local, based on the primary residence of a convict. Managing smaller facilities that are built to spec and built well would be more efficient and secure.

Passing a law to this effect will also end the whimsical on again/off again view on reforming penology and penitentiaries in country every time a new president or Congress is elected. When jails become the safest place for criminals to do business, we don’t have a problem: Malacañang, we have a disaster!