The raiding team were surprised to find several contraband including over a million in cash and shabu inside the jails. (CDN PHOTO/CHRISTIAN MANINGO)
Inmates were soundly asleep when a loud thud and banging at the iron gates woke them at 1:25 a.m. Saturday.
Clad in full battle gear and carrying high-powered firearms, about 300 policemen raided the male dormitories of the Cebu City Jail and the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC)—both located in the hilly barangay of Kalunasan, Cebu City.
Detainees were asked to remove their clothes and stay in one corner as operatives of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) searched the belongings and rooms of the two jail facilities one by one.
The haul surprised even the raiding policemen: bundles of bills and packs of coins believed to be more than P1 million, several kilos of shabu, nubain, mobile phones, bladed weapons, flat screen televisions, pairs of branded rubber shoes, personal appliances, and several drug paraphernalia.
Many of the contraband were recovered from the Cebu City Jail, formerly known as the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC).
There was no need to secure a search warrant from the court since the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, which has control over the city jail, and Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, who has authority over the province-run CPDRC, both gave permission for the surprise inspections, said Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7).
Taliño said PRO-7 on Friday received an information about the illegal drug operations inside both jails, which adjoin each other in the upland village of Kalunasan in Cebu City.
The former Special Action Force chief immediately hatched a “Greyhound Operation” inside both jails, with the help of agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and BJMP officers.
Three K9 dogs from PDEA and the Philippine Coast Guard helped in searching for the contraband.
“Based sa information na nakuha natin, ginagawa nang tiangge ang loob ng kulungan. Kunwari pumapasok ang mga drug users dito para bumibisita pero dito pala sila bumili at gumamit ng illegal drugs kasi takot sila sa Tokhang sa labas,” said Taliño in an interview. (Based on the information we received, the jails have become a market for illegal drugs. Drug users come here as if they would visit prisoners but in reality they buy and use drugs. They do it behind bars because they are afraid of the Oplan Tokhang being conducted by the police outside the jail)
Taliño said they are investigating how the illegal drugs and other contraband slip past the jail guards at the entrance gates.
Charges will be filed against the detainees from whom the contraband were seized.
As of 6 a.m., at least P1 million cash was recovered from the Cebu City Jail, said Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, PRO-7 deputy director for operations.
Inventory of the seized items is still ongoing.
Chief Supt. Allan Iral, director of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Central Visayas (BJMP-7), said he will relieve from his post Warden Johnson Calub of the Cebu City Jail.
Like Calub, all jail officials and guards will also be investigated, said Iral who accompanied the policemen in raiding the Cebu City Jail.
Sought for comment, Calub said he was grateful to the police for conducting the greyhound operation.
“During my administration, I never promised that there will be no illegal drugs that will make it inside the city jail. People always find ways to do it,” he said in an interview.
“The BJMP never tolerates that. But to be honest, we have a hard time preventing contraband from coming in. We could not avoid that,” he added.
The Cebu City Jail, he said, has an average visitors of 500 to 1,000 visitors in a day and yet they only have two prison guards who would search those who get inside the jail.
“I’m willing to be relieved from my post and be investigated,” he said.
“But let me first give three recommendations. First, the government should give us an ideal facility. Second, there be barriers in the visiting places so there would be no physical contact between the inmates and visitors. Lastly, there should only be one person handling the BJMP and the Bureau of Corrections so we won’t be confused,” he added.
Based on previous instances, Calub said female visitors bring packs of illegal drugs and placed them in their private areas.
He said their current jail personnel of 100 aren’t enough to monitor every visitors and inmates.
At present, the Cebu City Jail, which is designed for just 600 inmates, has 3,089 inmates.
Congestion is also the problem of the CPDRC which has a capacity of 1,600 but attends to over 3,000 inmates.
Deputy Warden Romeo Manansala on Friday decided to temporarily not accept inmates from different cities and municipalities.
“We now have 3,800 inmates. That’s too much already. We cannot help but close CPDRC for the time being,” he said.
He said a number of inmates are staying at the corridors and at the quadrangle since there are no more detention cells for them.
The slow-paced resolution of cases in court, he said, as well as the aggressive campaign of the police against illegal drugs are seen as reason why CPDRC is congested.
The CPDRC, the home of the famous dancing inmates, is manned by the Cebu provincial government, while the Cebu City Jail is under the supervision of the BJMP.
Gov. Davide recently took over as acting warden of CPDRC after reports that contraband continued to be sent inside the provincial jail.
Aside from Taliño and Lawas, also present during the operations were Senior Supt. Joel Doria, director of the Cebu City Police Office, Senior Supt. Jose Macanas of the Cebu Provincial Police Office, and PDEA-7 Director Yogi Filemon Ruiz.