The Bureau of Corrections will extend the visiting hours for relatives of prisoners at the New Bilibid Prison maximum security compound in Muntinlupa City in lieu of its ban on conjugal visits.
BuCor officer-in-charge Rolando Asuncion said that for now, visitors are barred from going to the dormitories of prisoners and are only allowed to see their loved ones for 30 minutes at the visitation area.
He said he has recommended to the Department of Justice to extend the visiting hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Wednesdays to Sundays.
Asuncion said they are still studying if the ban on visitors at prisoners’ dormitories will be permanent. “We are talking to the reformation people if visitors will be allowed up to the dormitories,” he said.
In contrast, he said no visitors are allowed at the NBP Building 14, which houses the alleged drug lords and Very Important Prisoners. “I suspended temporarily the visitation privileges (at Building 14),” he said.
Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force yesterday raided the NBP maximum security compound for the fourth time since July 20 and confiscated eight cellphones, 11 Subscriber Identification Module cards, memory cards, bladed weapons, gas tanks, laptop, gaming consoles, and Digital Versatile Disc players.
The PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group conducted an inventory on the discovered contraband.
In a press conference at the Department of Justice, Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre rebranded “Oplan: Galugad” as “Digmaang Droga.”
The areas raided were the NBP Hospital and Buildings 1 and 6 that house gangs such as the Batang City Jail and Batang Mindanao, newly appointed NBP spokesman Sonny del Rosario Jr. said.
“The SAF will be conducting clearing operations continuously. Tuloy-tuloy yan. It is purely their operation but they are coordinating with the administration of the Bureau of Corrections in all their activities (inside the NBP),” he said.
Asuncion said they are still looking for the tunnels under the NBP maximum security camp that Aguirre previously said were being used to manufacture shabu. (Jonathan M. Hicap)