Last Monday evening’s arrest of a tour guide in Badian town, southwestern Cebu, for possession of small sachets of shabu should perhaps sufficiently answer the complaint by inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) on the suspension of their visiting privileges.
To recall, the inmates through a lawyer issued a manifesto requesting, nay demanding the reinstatement of their visiting privileges by reasoning that the abuses and violations committed by their fellow inmates should not be used to justify a blanket punishment on all of them.
The indefinite suspension of visiting privileges came after the latest Operation Greyhound inside the CPDRC produced contraband that included drugs and cash believed to be sourced from the prison’s cooperative.
Several Greyhound operations have been conducted, with some raising the hackles of rights advocates and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) owing to the discovery that the inmates were subjected to strip naked and sit in the middle of the quadrangle while their cells were inspected for contraband.
Apparently the Greyhound operations weren’t enough, and the discovery that the prison’s cooperative was being used to pay off the guards so they can buy drugs and other items barred from jail only gave more reason to the provincial officials to clamp down on security inside the CPDRC.
So what to make of the discovery of four small sachets of shabu at the hands of tour guide Willard Capacio, who was not listed as an accredited tour guide by the Badian municipal tourism committee.
If that’s the case, then how many more people pose as tour guides in Badian town only to peddle drugs sourced from the CPDRC to their clients? And is it only confined to Badian town?
Anyone familiar with the CPDRC knows the likely suspect in the distribution of drugs to the outside world. Suspected drug lord Alvaro “Barok” Alvaro, who was detained at the CPDRC for two years now, had not stopped doing business even behind bars.
It’s also not difficult to conclude that he has practically the support of everyone within the jail facility including the guards in shipping the drugs from any point in the province through a few simple phone calls.
Given that situation, how can the provincial government clamp down on the CPDRC drug trade? To deny or even refute its existence would fool no one save for the truly gullible, and we’d like to believe that Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III and his people are no fools.
At the same time, the discovery of drugs sourced from the CPDRC puts more pressure on the inmates to cleanse their ranks of illegal drug activities. Until it stops, there is very little reason and incentive for the Capitol to ease up on security in the CPDRC.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
