Strip search for Bilibid visitors

The New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City has required female visitors to strip as part of standard search procedures, one of several new measures now in place to prevent illegal drugs from getting into the national penitentiary.

Also, inmates have volunteered to monitor convicted drug lords inside the maximum security compound, Superintendent Francisco Abunales told The STAR in a phone interview.

These measures have been implemented by NBP in light of the national government’s renewed campaign against illegal drugs, Abunales explained.

He said the strip search of visitors started last week.

Abunales admitted several female visitors have complained about the measure, including one who visited former congressman Romeo Jalosjos.

He explained prisons officials decided to implement such a stringent measure because there had been previous attempts by female visitors to smuggle sachets of shabu into the NBP. Some would conceal them in their sanitary napkins, Abunales pointed out.

Newly-appointed Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director Dionisio Santiago also has plans to purchase x-ray machines and metal detectors, he said. A drug-sniffing dog has also been deployed at the NBP.

As for the drug lords, Abunales said, it was but "natural" for prisons officials to suspect them of still running their drug syndicates from inside the NBP.

There are 40 drug lords, mostly Chinese nationals, currently serving time at the NBP, Abunales said. Eight are on death row. — Nikko Dizon<