Crimes inside Bilibid, believe it or not

And worse, high-powered firearms, huge sums of money, and suspected shabu were found inside some of these ‘kubol’ within the NBP facility, among many other unexpected special rooms of big-time prisoners.

We thought we had seen the worse of irregularities uncovered from the series of raids done at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City last month. Then there was an attempted rape incident involving an eight-year-old girl. It took place inside the comfort room of a chapel in the state penitentiary’s maximum-security compound during the Christmas party for inmates.

The inmate accused of attempting to rape the girl later tested positive for illegal drugs. The victim happens to be the daughter of the inmate’s gang mate in the Bahala Na Gang at Munti. The girl was visiting her father with the rest of their family when she disappeared and was later found without underwear, with a rope around her neck, and bruised.

The ultimate shocker was yesterday’s incident when a fragmentation grenade blew up inside the maximum-security compound that killed one inmate and injured 19 other prisoners. At least three more grenades were recovered from a secret stash of these hardcore criminals jailed there for life.

The grenade attempt was said to be in retaliation for the continued raids being done at the NBP on instructions of Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila de Lima. As DOJ Secretary, De Lima supervises the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), one of the attached agencies under her office. The BuCor runs the NBP and other state penal colonies all over the country.

The NBP compound houses convicted felons and those serving life-terms stay together at supposedly maximum-security compound while the rest are jailed in minimum-security area. But the more privileged ones get to stay in their own “kubol,” a euphemism for condo-like structure for the moneyed and influential convicts.

Around 23,000 inmates are currently housed at Munti — as the NBP is more popularly called. Of this total, 14,500 are reportedly jailed in maximum security. Opened in 1940, NBP was originally meant to house 8,400 state prisoners.

Though the facility is obviously congested, there is certainly no ground for such glaring epic failure of officials and guards running this state penitentiary and turning it into a five-star hotel lodging for convicted criminals. From drug lords to murderers and hired killers, they took over NBP and turned it into new base of operations for their crime syndicates.

Despite the congested NBP, inmates are seemingly least bothered by the situation of their incarceration.

De Lima found out for herself why. She learned the answer when — accompanied by full-armored personnel from the police and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) — she first swooped down on the country’s state penitentiary purportedly in a “surprise” raid last December 15.

As it turned out, De Lima was in not so much for a surprise but a shocker.

De Lima would later admit being shocked to discover the grim realities taking place inside and literally behind the walls of NBP. An inventory of what they seized from inside false, or hidden walls of certain NBP inmates, included a luxurious jacuzzi bathtub, vaults containing Rolex watches, split-type air-conditioning units, refrigerators, electronic equipment to get signals for cellular phones, among other big ticket items.

Perhaps, the DOJ should hold a garage sale of these seized appliances, if only to recover taxpayers’ money that were paid for the electricity bills charged to us by these privileged convicts.

And worse, high-powered firearms, huge sums of money, and suspected shabu were found inside some of these “kubol” within the NBP facility, among many other unexpected special rooms of big-time prisoners.

This is not to mention other blatant violations of prison rules like sex workers being seen going in and out at Munti beyond visiting hours. No wonder there were reports of inmates afflicted with sexually transmitted diseases like HIV, if not full-blown AIDS.

Most of the seized contraband were sneaked into the holding cells of the 19 drug lords staying at the maximum-security compound. On orders of De Lima, the 19 convicted drug lords were moved out of the NBP and are now being held temporarily at the NBI detention facility on Taft Avenue, Manila.

By segregating these high-profile prisoners, De Lima stressed, they will be cut off from their lucrative illegal drug trade. Obviously, these convicted drug lords like Amin Boratong are able to continue to do so even while in prison abetted by unscrupulous prison guards who they are able to bribe with their money.

How do they get hold of such huge sums of monies? The NBI has confiscated over P700,000 from the inmates during its inspections on Dec. 28 and 29. Some of the cash were found inside a trash can at the comfort room while smaller amounts were found hidden inside an “ampao” and in a pack of cigarettes.

The biggest, amounting to about P350,000, was reportedly seized from Tony Co. A total of 475 Canadian dollars (about P84,000) was seized from inmate Wu Yuantuan, alias Peter Co.

Speaking of Pete Co, the Solicitor General, which represents the government in cases, informed De Lima that the judge handling Co’s writ of habeas corpus plea junked the inmate’s request. In filing this petition, Co contested his transfer to the NBI detention.

Other inmates who have contested the transfer include Willie Sy, Michael Ong, and Noel Martinez, who ran to the Court of Appeals. Boratong filed his own petition all the way to the Supreme Court. The same inmates have also filed separate human rights complaints against De Lima and the NBI before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

Unfazed by these suits against them, more illegal items smuggled into NBP were recovered in follow-up raids done by DOJ-NBI. While some were voluntarily surrendered, the seized items that ranged from pieces of high-powered firearms like .45 caliber magnum and a few “paltik” or improvised handguns as well as improvised knives are now out of the hands of these Munti inmates. Even an M-16 rifle was reportedly discovered.

This news gives credence to claims a number of crimes was allegedly committed by Munti inmates who are able to freely sneak out and return to their cells at Bilibid. No wonder many crimes remain unsolved. Believe it or not, much stranger things happen inside Bilibid.