De Lima: 2 killed, 1 hurt in NBP ‘riot’

MANILA, Philippines - Two detainees were killed and one was hurt in a “riot” that reportedly erupted at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) maximum security compound, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said yesterday.

De Lima said she received the information in a text message sent to her by NBP director Franklin Bucayu, who reported two fatalities, one injury, and one arrested during the riot, which occurred yesterday morning. NBP is under the direct supervision of the Department of Justice.

However, the official report read by prison Superintendent Fajardo Lansangan over the phone stated that one was killed, one wounded, and one arrested.

De Lima ordered an investigation to determine “what exactly triggered” the riot, which was part of the “perennial” conflict at the prison.

“Maybe (today) when I go there they will have an official report. Those incidents are perennial. I am having them look into what triggered the incident, whether it was because of the game or something else,” De Lima told reporters in an interview.

According to Bucayu, a prisoner was stabbed while playing volleyball at a basketball court at about 8:15 a.m.

“When the victim went to pick the ball, the suspect stabbed the victim. This resulted in two dead, one wounded and one suspect arrested. Investigation is ongoing,” he said.

Bucayu did not identify any of the prisoners. He merely briefed De Lima on what the “NBP superintendent” reported to him. The superintendent Bucayu referred to was Lansangan.

No riot

In an interview, Lansangan, chief of the maximum security compound, corrected De Lima’s information, saying “there was no riot” but an “ordinary stabbing incident in our community as if you’re in a barangay.”

The compound is divided into to two sections: Presidio and Carcel. The two sides separate the 12 gangs in the compound, and are 500 meters apart.

Lansangan said that at around 8:15 a.m. members of the Batang City Jail (BCJ) crossed Carcel from Persidio to play volleyball in the basketball court of the Genuine Ilocano Gang (GIG).

Enrico de Asis of Sigue-Sigue Sputnik saw a member of the BCJ, with whom he had a previous conflict.

“So De Asis stabbed Nolfe Ladiao with a pair of scissors,” Lansangan said.

Ladiao survived the attacked and was confined at the NBP Hospital, while De Asis was arrested.

Lansangan said BCJ members have their own basketball court. But he claimed that it had been a practice by the inmates to cross the territories of the others gangs because NBP “is just like an ordinary community.”

The incident prompted prison officials to “immediately padlock” the prisoners.

Lansangan said this was their way of “protecting” innocent inmates and at the same time “punishing” those who are at fault.

During this period, prison officials ensure that none of the inmates were allowed to roam the 13-hectare compound.

But while the buildings were being padlocked, Jorge Almo decided to go to church. At around 8:45 a.m., Almo – like the BCJ members – crossed 500 meters from Presidio to Carcel to visit an Iglesia Ni Cristo chapel, Lansangan said.

Almo was stabbed in the back and died. Officials have yet to identify the killer and the instrument used to kill him.

Another story

Sources interviewed by The STAR, however told a different story. The sources also said that two – not one – died in the “trouble” that began Sunday night and ended yesterday morning.

De Asis of Sigue-Sigue Sputnik stabbed Ladiao of BCJ at the GIG court.

BCJ members “avenged” Ladiao’s death “so they stabbed Almo” yesterday morning.

Sputnik retaliated and killed a former member of the BCJ, who had transferred to another gang. Both BCJ and Sputnik turned over one member each who were allegedly responsible for the killings.

Another source told The STAR that illegal drugs led to the killings. “One of the gang members failed to remit their earnings that’s why they killed each other,” the second source said.

Lansangan laughed off the sources’ claims as “not true” as he was in office on Sunday night.