Pubdate: Sat, 30 Jul 2016
Source: Philippine Star (Philippines)
Copyright: PhilSTAR Daily Inc. 2016
Contact:  http://www.philstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/622
Author: Evelyn Macairan

DOJ: PREACHERS DELIVERING DRUGS TO NBP INMATES

A religious group regularly visits the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) to 
preach love and hope to inmates  and offer women and illegal drugs on 
the side, according to reports reaching Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.

"We have found out some of the possibly religious personnel who were 
conducting preaching inside the penitentiary have been used to bring 
drugs as well as prostitutes inside the penitentiary," Aguirre said, 
citing information he received from a member of a non-government 
organization and three NBP guards who visited him recently.

The DOJ secretary said they are still checking the veracity of the 
information, including reports the group has a chapel inside the NBP 
complex in Muntinlupa.

He expressed belief the informants were not referring to NBP chaplain 
Monsignor Roberto Olaguer.

The group's leader  widely known at the NBP as pastor  would usually 
visit the prison complex in the company of four or five women who are 
reportedly paid P4,000 to P5,000 for sex with inmates or NBP personnel.

Aguirre said members of the Philippine National PoliceSpecial Action 
Force ( PNPSAF), who have been securing the NBP compound since July 
20, have put a stop to the practice and have even barred religious 
groups from entering the compound and interacting with the prisoners.

The restrictions being enforced by the SAF guards are also meant to 
facilitate the ongoing search for illegal drugs and weapons at the 
NBP under Oplan Digmaang Droga spearheaded by Aguirre.

He could not say how long religious groups would be banned from the NBP.

The DOJ chief said he is eyeing the creation of a factfinding 
committee to help the National Bureau of Investigation and the PNP 
get to the bottom of the illegal activities of religious sects at the NBP.

"It was as if it was the drug lords who were running (the NBP)," he 
pointed out while lamenting the lax security at the NBP.

Of the 54 inmates housed at Building 14 of the NBP, 19 are considered 
high-profile tenants. The latest addition to Building 14 was 
convicted car thief Raymond Dominguez, he added.

"Actually if you would look at this, it is like they are the boss... 
They are the ones dictating what will happen. The guards could not do 
anything or even the officers because based on our research, many of 
these NBP officers have been liquidated upon instructions given by 
the inmates to their contacts," he said.

Poor equipment

There are several x-ray machines at the NBP which are no longer 
working, Aguirre revealed. He also accused two former "really" 
high-ranking DOJ officials of receiving protection money from rich inmates.

Aguirre refused to identify them as "it is unfair to them... We have 
to presume that they are innocent."

"As a matter of fact, there is a conduct of investigation at the 
House of Representatives through the resolution filed by House 
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez so they would like to know why drugs 
proliferated during the previous administration," he added.

When asked if narco-politics has infiltrated the NBP, Aguirre said, 
"That is what we are afraid of. The drug lords have taken over the 
NBP because when we took over, the guards were not being respected. 
The high-profile inmates were the ones who were being respected, even 
by the officials. They are afraid of many these inmates."

He maintained some NBP and DOJ personnel and officials have been 
pocketing millions at the expense of the inmates. But he stressed 
Bureau of Corrections chief Ricardo Rainier Cruz III did not have any 
derogatory record.

The DOJ chief also cited anomalies in the granting of food allowances 
to convicts.

He said unscrupulous NBP personnel would deduct P10 from prisoners' 
daily allowance of P50.

"Since there are 24,000 inmates that would easily be P240,000 a day, 
which they divide among themselves," the DOJ chief added.

Aguirre said during the first week of Oplan Digmaan Droga  from July 
20 to 26  the search yielded a total of P1.6 million in cash, 80 
bladed weapons, 12 ice picks, a caliber .38 pistol, six improvised 
shot guns, 152 cellular phones, 62 mobile phone chargers, six sachets 
of suspected shabu, one plastic of suspected marijuana and 48 television sets.

"This is just the first barrage in our war on drugs. We will pursue 
President Duterte's mandate to us to wage war on drugs, criminality 
and corruption with dogged determination and we shall marshal all the 
power and the resources at our disposal to eradicate these problems," he said.

"We are prepared to go as long as three months for SAF to be in 
charge, and once we can no longer find any contraband goods then our 
agreement with the PNP is that we would rotate them with the 
Philippine Marines," he added.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom