The scandal that has been going on inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa continues to rile the public.
The latest which was the attempted rape of an eight-year-old girl, was so brazen that one wonders what kind of management system is being implemented by the Bureau of Prisons.
The discovery of high-powered firearms, huge amounts of cash and jewelries in a raid by the Department of Justice (if it was indeed an honest to goodness raid) alone shows the depth of the rot in our penal system.
A show of indignation by the Secretary of Justice is clearly not enough. The government must get to the bottom of this no matter where it leads and no matter who gets hurt. One big reason for this is because of the illegal drugs trade which is already affecting the very fabric of our law enforcement infrastructure.
How is it that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency did not have any inkling of any illegal drug trade being managed from the inside of a prison? The illegal drugs trade in this country is becoming a major problem—and is growing. If the government is unable to deal with this effectively, the drug cartels can threaten the very stability of this country like what is happening in Mexico. Already, there are credible reports that Mexican drug cartels are already here. Any effort or investigation however, should be an independent body because it is doubtful whether the DOJ can conduct an impartial investigation considering that many officials in the Department are rumored to be involved in this scandalous activity.
The story of shenanigans inside the new Bilibid prison is nothing new. In addition to what has been exposed by the DOJ operation were stories about the use of prison inmates being brought out of jail to do professional kills which is perhaps the reason why there are so many unsolved killings. It does not take too much intelligence to figure out that those expensive shoes and jewelries found were used by the convicted inmates regularly every time they go out of jail escorted by prison guards.
As shown by the things that were discovered during the DOJ raid, it is also clear that the scandalous activity has been going on for a long time with the full knowledge and acquiesce not only of mid level prison officials but higher DOJ and Bureau of Corrections officials. And for these officials to claim utter ignorance is so unbelievable that they must really think of the public as so stupid to believe them. After all, both Secretary Leila De Lima and Director Franklin Bucayu have been in their posts for some time and must know by know what is going on inside the Bilibid prison.
For one, Director Bucayu’s office is within the prison complex. There are true to life movies depicting gangsters running their operations from inside the prison but high powered firearms, money counting machines, recording studio, computers with Wi-Fi, jacuzzis and being able to go out from prison regularly puts a new meaning to the term prison privilege.
Bucayu, the Bureau of Prisons Director, asked the question “what have I done wrong?” Maybe it was not what he did wrong but what he failed to do. Being a former military man, Director Bucayu understands the meaning of the concept of command responsibility. He does not need any lecturing on this. He knows the drill.
I know Frank Bucayu personally. He served as the Chief of the Police of Valenzuela City when I was with the Northern Police District in the 1990s. He is a decent person who graduated from the Philippine Military Academy with the Class of 1980. He was originally from the Philippine Army but when the Philippine National Police was formed in 1991, he transferred to the PNP.
Rumor has it that he was chosen by Secretary De Lima to head the Bureau of Corrections because either he is related to the good Secretary or that his wife is a close relative of the Secretary De Lima. In any case, since he is the Bureau head, he eventually cannot escape bearing the responsibility for what has happened.
It is difficult for the public to understand how such an activity was allowed to go on for so long but after working for the government for over forty years, I am not surprised at all. The Bureau of Prisons operates like any other agency in our government bureaucracy. It does not have complete written regulations that covers every aspect of prison life. Many things that go on in government depend on the management style of the leader of an agency. When that leader leaves, that system goes with him.
Secretary Mar Roxas was reported by a paper one time bemoaning the need for standard operating procedures on disaster management so that actions would be automatic instead of everyone waiting for the instructions from the boss. This is sadly a common norm in government. There are very few agencies that have well established system of standard operating procedures.
At the start of this fiasco, the President expressed alarm over the discovery of high powered firearms. But if he wants to end this scandalous practice in our prison system once and for all, he should take the cudgels and lead the investigation himself. Secretary De Lima appears reluctant to go further than the disciplining of mid level correction officials.
The President has that opportunity to be able to institute meaningful reforms. If he fails, this scandal will be added to the growing list of failures of his administration which he cannot afford at this stage of his presidency.
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