The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) has relieved the entire group of prison guards assigned at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Custodial and Detention Center in Camp Aguinaldo following Senator Leila de Lima’s allegation that prisoners being held at the facility were given special privileges.
BuCor Director General Benjamin Delos Santos said the complement of prison guards headed by Marlon Mangubat and 20 others was relieved pending the change in the implementing rules and regulations of the agreement regarding the use of the center between the Department of Justice (DoJ) and Department of National Defense (DND).
“A new OIC [officer in charge] was installed to oversee posting of new guards,” Delos Santos said.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has denied allowing the grant of special privileges to the prisoners as he ordered Delos Santos to investigate the matter.
In compliance with the order, Delos Santos said clearing operations were conducted by a joint team from the BuCor and the Philippine National Police’s Special Action Force (SAF).
As a result, air conditioning units at the AFP detention facility were dismantled but the team did not find cell phones from prisoners.
Delos Santos said one phone is installed at the reception area for emergencies under the watch of BuCor-SAF.
“All calls are logged individually showing inmate’s name, time, date and party contacted,” he said.
One television set is installed also at the reception area for scheduled viewing.
The relieved prison guards are back at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa “pending investigation to determine culpability.”
During the congressional hearings led by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, high-profile inmates of the NBP, including Jaybee Sebastian and Herbert Colanggo, admitted giving millions of pesos to de Lima to fund her senatorial campaign in exchange for protection and special privileges in the Bilibid. (Jonathan Hicap, Jeffrey Damicog)