‘Bilibid tunnel not escape passageway’

MANILA, Philippines - A supposed tunnel found inside the New Bilibid Prison maximum security compound where high-value convicts are detained is just an old drainage system and not an escape passageway for inmates, an NBP official claimed yesterday.

NBP Superintendent Roberto Rabo showed reporters the site where the tunnel was discovered.

“This is an old drainage system from the maximum security compound to the lethal injection room,” he said.

Earlier reports said three Armalite rifles were found in the tunnel. But Rabo claimed only tools and old pipes were found.

The NBP official said the drainage tunnel, measuring four feet, is located at the back of Building 11-D, which serves as a detention facility for former soldiers and police officers.

The tunnel had been sealed in 1980, Rabo said.

It was uncovered during a pipe-laying project of Maynilad inside the NBP compound.

The spot where the tunnel was found was near the detention facility of convicted Pasig shabu tiangge operator Amin Imam Buratong.

Rabo said a supposed insider leaked to media the escape route.

He said the laying of pipelines in the area is part of a project for the delivery of potable water in the prison compound.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered an investigation into the discovery of the tunnel.

DOJ Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III said he has directed Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Franklin Jesus Bucayu to investigate the incident.

“I instructed Director Bucayu to submit a report to me,” Baraan, the supervising DOJ official of the BuCor, told reporters.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said she would await the report from the BuCor to determine possible actions.  

In 2002, a tunnel was discovered at the NBP compound. Officials said the tunnel, measuring two feet, was found between the Iglesia ni Cristo and Seventh Day Adventists chapels.

The chapels are located near Building 1, Dorm C where there were 317 inmates, 99 of whom had death sentences affirmed by the Supreme Court. – With Edu Punay