BJMP mulls bag, cell phone depository at Bicutan jail

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) is set to put up a depository cabinet for cell phones and bags for visitors at the Quezon City Jail Annex at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig to prevent inmates, like the Ampatuans, from using mobile phones in their detention cells.

Senior Inspector Edgar Camus said there are measures to ensure the security of the inmates at the jail, which houses members of the Ampatuan clan implicated in the massacre of 57 persons in Maguindanao on Nov. 23, 2009.

Camus said the reshuffle of BJMP personnel assigned to the Quezon City Jail Annex is being done weekly to prevent familiarity between jail guards and inmates.

Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and DILG Undersecretary for Public Order Rico Puno inspected the jail on separate occasions as part of an investigation of allegations that the Ampatuans were given special treatment.

In his report to President Aquino and Robredo, Puno said photos showing them enjoying special treatment were taken prior to the current administration.

Meanwhile, clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr. is scheduled to enter his plea today on the multiple murder charges even as his lawyer, Sigfrid Fortun, asked Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes to rule whether detention cells at the camp should be subjected to public viewing.

Fortun called the massacre victims’ families a “lynch mob” after they insisted on inspecting the suspects’ detention cells. He said his clients are still entitled to privacy because “they are only detainees and not convicted felons.”  – Cecille Suerte Felipe, Reinir Padua