BuCor expands transparent bag policy nationwide

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TO deter the entry of contraband items, the Bureau of Corrections has expanded its policy mandating the use of transparent bags by its personnel and visitors not only in its prison facilities but also offices nationwide.

BuCor spokesperson Gabriel Chaclag said they decided to expand the coverage of the policy to prevent the entry of contraband items, including cellular phones.

“It is a standing policy for those who want to enter our prison camps. Now, we expanded it to also include those who enter our offices,” Chaclag said.

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He, however, bewailed the fact that some BuCor personnel are still ignoring the policy.

“We want to do away with the ingrained culture. We will implement transparency in our everyday actions. So, starting today that is our system that we will enforce,” he said.

Aside from the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa city, the other prison facilities under the BuCor are the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City, Davao Prison and Penal Farm, Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan, San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro, and the Leyte Regional Prison.

Last month, a BuCor employee was caught sneaking a cellular phone into the NBP despite the DOJ’s directive prohibiting such items inside the national penitentiary.

Chaclag said any BuCor employee violating the policy for transparent bags while inside prison facilities and offices will face administrative sanctions.

“Graduated muna, meaning warnings before the filing of formal charges,” he said, adding no one is exempted from the policy.

Despite heightened security measures inside its prison facilities, repeated search operations by BuCor personnel always yielded contraband items such as cellular phones, improvised weapons and even cash.

The bureau has also installed signal jammers, particularly in the maximum-security compound of the NBP where high-profile inmates, including drug lords are detained, to prevent them from using cellular phones to communicate with their cohorts outside.

Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla earlier named the BuCor, along with the Bureau of Immigration and the Land Registration, as the three sub-agencies of the department that needed help due to alleged corruption.

The BuCor has been hit by controversies in recent years, including the VIP treatment of high-profile prisoners, as well as the alleged existence of a drug ring inside the national penitentiary.

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