Senate President Tito Sotto yesterday disclosed that inmates shelled out as high as P1.5 million for their early release as part of the “well-organized GCTA for sale” scheme at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.
Sotto said convicted drug lords allegedly paid P1.5 million to Bureau of Corrections executives in exchange of their early release under the Good Conduct Time Allowance law or Republic Act No. 10592.
Citing a source, Sotto said the pay-offs for the reduced jail sentences would depend on the social class of the prisoners, with drug lords among those having to pay the largest. “‘Yong isang witness, without preempting the entire kuwento niya, ang alam niya, ‘yong mga drug lord, tig-P1.5 (million),” the Senate chief said.
Sotto added that the source also said some eight prisoners, on the other hand, paid P100,000 each for their freedom.
He said the payment was supposedly received by slain BuCor documents processing division assistant chief Ruperto Traya Jr. Traya was shot to death in front of his house in Muntinlupa City last August.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson also revealed the same information on Twitter. “So far, we have discovered and will pursue to validate (gather evidence as well) a price range of P50K to P1.5M per prisoner. At least eight are known to have paid up to P100K each. It is also well organized. Let’s see where it leads us,” Lacson wrote.
Aside from the bribe for early release, Sotto said he also learned that some inmates from the NBP maximum security compound also paid cash to jail officers so they would not be transferred to the medium security compound. “’Yon daw nasa maximum, ayaw daw malipat sa medium kasi daw andun daw ang negosyo nila sa maximum. So maglalagay para huwag silang malipat,” he said.
At the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the GCTA law last Thursday night, Yolanda Camilon, a wife of an inmate, appeared and claimed that she paid P50,000 to BuCor officials who promised her common-law partner’s early release from the NBP. It did not materialize. (Vanne Terrazola)
