The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) has started tearing down walls of the so-called kubols or makeshift cells in prisons all over the country.
Meanwhile Senator Ronald Dela Rosa said the security lapses at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City that enabled prisoner Michael Cataroja to escape were “unacceptable.”
BuCor chief Gregorio Catapang Jr. said a total of 23 dormitories in six buildings at the NBP have been dismantled. He said each floor of the NBP buildings has about 50 to 70 kubols.
“Dingding lang naman ang tinatanggal natin. Wala na pong talop. Doon nagkakaproblema kasi pag sarado, di natin nakikita,” he said in a radio interview.
Catapang said each kubol houses about 5-10 inmates. However, some kubols have only one occupant, usually a group leader or mayores.
“May nakita kami doon sarili niya lang, ‘yung mga mayores. Dapat pantay-pantay lang. Mayores pa rin siya pero di sarado ang kanyang kwarto,” Catapang said.
He said inmates put up walls in their rooms for privacy. “Now we have a visitation area,” he said.
Daily search operations will also be conducted in the NBP to rid the penitentiary of all contrabands.
Last month, Catapang learned that some NBP personnel were allegedly allowing the entry of contrabands inside the prison facility.
A Senate hearing, meanwhile, showed that digital money remittance transactions at the NBP could reach P300,000 daily.
“Sobra sobrang lapses. That’s unacceptable, maximum security malayasan ng preso. Mortal sin ‘yan. Heads must roll para ‘di na mangyari ito. Nakakahiya,” Dela Rosa said in a phone interview shared with Senate reporters.
Dela Rosa is a former director general of the Bureau of Corrections, appointed in 2018 after his stint as chief of the Philippine National Police.
He said a thorough investigation must be conducted to determine the extent of the command responsibility and negligence that might reach the level of the BuCor chief.
“Tignan natin ‘yung negligence of duty kung aabot sa kanya para may mapanagot. Command responsibility should be applied,” Dela Rosa said.
The Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights will conduct on Tuesday an inquiry into Cataroja’s escape.