[ad_1]
MANILA, Philippines – Four days after a riot inside New Bilibid prison left nine inmates dead, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra wonders how such a violent incident could have happened and why the prison guard couldn’t prevent it.
Last Friday’s riot started at 2:30 a.m. and was contained only an hour later.
Guevarra immediately requested the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) that supervises Bilibid and six other penal institutions to immediately submit a report. The report, he said, was “quite crude” and ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct an investigation.
The Justice Department chief said the initial report he was given after the incident “simply described what happened.”
“What I want to know is how such a violent incident could happen in the wee hours of the morning and last for hours, and why the prison authorities did not detect or prevent such a large gang war that many inmates were killed or injured.” he said.
BuCor was a constituent office of the DOJ. However, the Republic Law 10575 or the BuCor Law of 2013 turned the controversial office into a DOJ line agency. Since its approval, the DOJ can only exercise administrative oversight over BuCor rather than control it.
Last year, the Senate conducted an investigation and discovered anomalies in the calculation of the good conduct time allowance (GCTA). The legal officer who testified before the Senate was assassinated earlier this year.
During the pandemic, nine high-profile inmates die from COVID-19, including Jaybee Sebastian, a key person in drug trafficking in prisons.
Last Friday’s riot, based on a report given to INQUIRER.net, showed that it was retaliation by members of Sigue Sigue Sputnik after their comrades were killed. One of the dead was beheaded.
Also on October 9, an informant said that a high-profile inmate identified in last month’s drug trade in Cebu City died of a heart attack. Prison officials have yet to comment on the matter.
RELATED STORIES
Read next
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer and more than 70 other titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download from 4am and share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
For comments, complaints or inquiries, please contact us.
[ad_2]
