Group calls for military takeover of Bilibid

MANILA, Philippines - The government should place the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City under full military control, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said yesterday.

In a press conference in Manila, VACC founding chair Dante Jimenez said such a drastic measure could be the only solution to what he described as a “culture of crime and corruption” in the national penitentiary that the administration of President Aquino failed to effectively address.

Jimenez cited the recent killing of inmate Charlie Quidato, convicted killer of Masbate City mayor Moises Espinosa, and the confiscation of contraband like high-powered firearms and a drone as proofs of the need for a military takeover of the prison.

“NBP needs a major surgery by imposing drastic measures, which we victims of heinous criminals inside the penitentiary are demanding,” he said.

The VACC head believes that efforts of former justice secretary Leila de Lima to cleanse the NBP – including the transfer of 19 high-profile inmates, mostly drug lords, to the National Bureau of Investigation headquarters for several months – were not sufficient.

 “It seems that what we are witnessing in the NBP is just the tip of the iceberg. There are more contraband still being hidden by various gangs and individual inmates in the NBP,” he lamented.

Quidato was a Commando Gang leader who was serving his sentence for the murder of Espinosa during a fiesta at Barangay Bantique in Masbate City on Aug. 9, 2001.

An NBP probe showed that Quidato was shot by Ronald Catapang, a convicted drug trafficker who belongs to the same gang, with a Magnum .357 revolver in Dormitory 9 at about 5:20 p.m. on Oct. 22.

The victim sustained two gunshot wounds and died on the spot.

After the incident, prison guards rounded up the inmates at Dormitory 9 and seized 14 assorted handguns that included a Magnum .357 revolver as well as .45 caliber, .40 caliber and 9mm pistols; a hand grenade; two refrigerators; and an air-conditioning unit.

The guards also found a remote-controlled drone during the overnight sweep of the prison dormitory.

Justice Secretary Benjamin Caguioa has not issued a statement on the incident.

The NBP is under the Bureau of Corrections, an attached agency of the Department of Justice.