A Justice department official on Wednesday said the deaths of 13 inmates in two recent incidents of gang violence inside the New Bilibid Prison was “inexcusable.”
“Thirteen deaths are too many. Even one death is not excusable. No death is excusable,” Justice Undersecretary Emmeline Aglipay-Villar told the ABS-CBN News Channel.
Villar made the statement after a fresh riot between members of two rival gangs resulted in the death of four inmates and injury to 62 others. The incident happened a month after nine inmates were killed in a similar gang-related violence inside the NBP.
Villar said Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra had already ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the matter.
Initial reports from the Bureau of Corrections showed that the riots were triggered by the rivalry between the warring Sigue-Sigue Sputnik and Sigue Sigue Commando gangs.
BuCor Director General Gerald Bantag and his deputy, Gabriel Chaclag, should explain how those incidents happened, Villar said.
“After the October 9 riot, BuCor conducted Oplan Galugad to try to get all improvised weapons that the PDLs [persons deprived of liberty] managed to make. However, it seems that was not effective with the guns fired this week,” she said.
Nonetheless, Aglipay-Villar said there should be more custodial personnel to look after th inmates at the NBP to prevent riots.
“Riots tend to easily escalate and deaths happen as we have seen because of congestion of the prison and the custodial personnel to PDL ratio,” she said.
She said the NBP’s 29,500 inmates greatly outnumbered its custodial personnel.
“The ratio is one custodial personnel to 60 prisoners. The recommended number in the law is one is to seven. We really need to hire more custodial personnel,” Villar said.
The DOJ also identified Calvin D. Tan as the Filipino-Chinese drug trafficker who was among the four inmates who died in Monday’s riot inside the NBP’s Maximum Security Compound.
Tan was serving life imprisonment after he was convicted in 2012 for organizing, operating and financing a shabu laboratory in Mandaue City.
Inmates are not allowed to leave their dorms, and only orderlies can roam the jail facility.
This is the second time that a riot occurred inside the Maximum Security Compound. Last month, nine inmates were killed in the riot between the Sigue Sigue Sputnik and Sigue Sigue Commando gangs.