Lording over the national penitentiary

Reports that crime gangs operate a thriving illegal drugs business inside the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) as evidenced by the discovery and seizure of mobile phones, shabu, firearms and ammunition from inmates are nothing new. This has been the obtaining situation ever since high profile inmates were admitted to the national prison facility and the number of drug offenders grew as a result of the campaign against illegal drugs.

The discovery of illegal drugs, firearms and ammunition and cellphones inside the national penitentiary suggests the remote control system being employed by crime bosses in running their evil empire. There is still shock value to this report even if it is as stale as a one-week old pandesal.

The national penitentiary was institutionalized in 1900 in Manila City.  Forty years later, the facility was transferred to what was once a remote municipality in the province of Rizal known as Muntinlupa.

In the 1960s, the National Bilibid facility was shaken by violence triggered by prison gangs who quarreled over control of the inmates and the business of smuggling contraband like liquor, cigarettes and bladed weapons inside the jail. The NBP facility was built to accommodate 3,000 inmates and during the turf war of prison gangs, the population was almost double.

The movies of that particular decade highlighted the rivalry for prison supremacy between the Tagalog-speaking Sigue-Sigue gang and the non-Tagalog Sputnik and OXO gangs.  Violence, security lax and corruption in the administration of the national penitentiary have plagued the NBP for the past 6 decades, so what else is new?

This year, DOJ Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, supervising official on the Bureau of Corrections and the NBP, announced that the National Penitentiary will be moved to Laur, Nueva Ecija. Coincidentally or not, Baraan figured in a corruption case in which, if he is unlucky, would cost him his job.

Baraan’s idea is simple:  Decapitate the gangs by transferring the facility to a very remote area which would make logistics like communications, mobility or out of prison breaks practically unavailable or difficult to obtain.  Moreover, there will be enough room for inmates whose present day numbers have upped to over 25,000 or 150% over and above the capacity of the NBP.

In 2011, former Bureau of Corrections director Ernesto Diokno talked of dismantling kubols and transfer high profile and affluent inmates to another building to prevent them from influencing other inmates.  But before Diokno could get his idea into the drawing board, a controversy broke out involving a high profile inmate who was seen in Makati enjoying “prison break”. Diokno denied he helped former Batangas governor and convicted killer Antonio Leviste  slip out of the NBP but the incident was enough to pressure him to resign. In the end, 10 officials were slapped with administrative charges.

Diokno’s resignation triggered a legislative investigation  with the Department of Justice.  Cavite Congressman fumed that BuCorr officials have practically conceded control of the National Bilibid Prison to 10 wealthy inmates including Chinese drug lords who he said “hold the key” to the control of the good life inside the NBP.

In the current controversy, Sec. Leila de Lima tried to assert the authority of her office by saying that the identities of the drug lords have been established, but gave no details except to say appropriate criminal and administrative charges are being prepared against them. Isn’t this the same pronouncement de Lima made after the 2011 DOJ and legislative inquiry about corruption in the NBP?

Whenever a government official would talk about reforming the system in the NBP or transferring the facility to Laur, Nueva Ecija, the prison official eventually finds himself in the middle of a controversy that puts a terrible pressure on him to resign. With the “meddling” official out of the way, the NBP maintains the status quo, and guess who is happy.