CPDRC ordered to submit photos, footage of jail raid

Staff of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) visit the CPDRC to investigate the raid in this March 3 file photo.

THE Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) was ordered to submit documents, photos and footage of the Operation Greyhound done in the facility early this month.

Acting Provincial Warden Bobby Legaspi confirmed that he received a subpoena from the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) last Friday, requiring him to submit a report of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on the operation.

Legaspi said he was given 10 days upon receipt of the subpoena to comply with the directive, and he is still waiting on the PDEA to submit their report on the raid.

Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III earlier said he was aware that his office was furnished a copy of the PDEA report, but he has yet to read it.

The CHR investigated the raid in the wake of complaints from rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch over what they claimed was a violation of the inmates’ rights and dignity.

Photos of the male inmates sitting naked inside the facility’s quadrangle while the raid was being conducted went viral on social media, drawing public criticism.

But PDEA regional director Yogi Filemon Ruiz justified the strip search. He said it was a precautionary measure to protect his agents from inmates who may be concealing weapons underneath their clothes.

CPDRC “bosyo” or leader of the inmates Lito Granada agreed with Ruiz’s reason, saying it was a standard operating procedure during a raid.

But he said it was humiliating for the inmates to be naked in front of the female inmates who were also rounded up with them at the quadrangle.

Governor Davide, who allowed the PDEA to conduct the operation, said he did not give the green light to have the inmates strip searched.

But he said he doesn’t see anything wrong with it since it was meant to protect the PDEA agents.