JOINT police and prison operatives yesterday confiscated cash, illegal drugs and weapons, and even sex toys as they demolished banned structures inside the maximum security compound of the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar and newly-appointed Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gerald Bantag led the demolition of small shanties believed to have been used as hideouts for the continued illegal activities of notorious high-profile prisoners at the maximum compound.
Aside from the contrabands, also seized were household appliances such as television sets and electric fans which are prohibited inside the national penitentiary.
BuCor spokesperson Atty. Wena Fe Dalagan said the Wednesday raid was the first of a series of operations that will be conducted inside the prison facility.
Dalagan said they are still accounting for the total value of the contrabands recovered during the operation.
Bantag said the demolition was part of the reforms that his administration has started to stop the continued narcotics operation inside the NBP and rid the BuCor of corrupt personnel.
Around 1,800 personnel participated in the clearing operations from different government agencies such as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Joint Task Force – National Capital Region (JTF-NCR), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) NCR, Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) NCR, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Philippine National Police – Special Action Force (PNP-SAF).
Eleazar said there is a pressing need for the BuCor to stop the thriving narcotics trade inside the jail facility, specifically pointing to the continued operations of big-time masterminds from behind bars.
Eleazar said helping the BuCor will benefit the campaign against illegal drugs and criminality.
“Kaya nga nang lumapit sa atin si Dir. Gen. Bantag, naisip ko ang BuCor naman sa Muntinlupa, nasa area ko naman pinakamaganda tulungan ko siya para matulungan niya kami maging tahimik itong ating komunidad,” Eleazar said.
Eleazar promised to continue supporting Bantag’s reforms.
“We have created monsters hanggang sa tayo na ang natatakot sa mga taong ito habang tayo ang dapat nangangasiwa sa kanila,” Eleazar said.
Bantag said it is important that authorities conduct regular raids at the maximum security
compound to ensure that there contrabands have been slipped anew to the convicts.
“Kapag i-allow mo ang ganyang klaseng illegal structures na ‘yan, diyan na sila nagtatago habang gumagamit ng mga cellphones at iba pang mga ipinagbabawal na kagamitan para hindi mo na makita,” Bantag said.
Bantag said the demolished illegal structures have prevented prison authorities to confiscate contrabands as the shanties served as a safe haven for the prisoners to hide it.
Around 65 personnel of the DPWH participated in the clearing operation equipped with different heavy equipment such as a unit backhoe, one unit breaker, four dump trucks, a boom truck, an air compressor, two jackhammers, one set Oxy-Acetylene, a payloader, two backhoe loaders, two bulldozers, and assorted hand tools and equipment.
