Stabbings lead to lockdown at New Bilibid Prison
Officials of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City imposed a lockdown at the maximum security compound and a ban on visitors indefinitely after two stabbing incidents left an inmate dead and another wounded on Monday.
The stabbings also prompted Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to order an investigation into the incidents. She told reporters she would talk to NBP officials about the matter after her visit Tuesday to the compound to speak at a graduation ceremony for new prison guards.
She said the initial report sent to her by Bureau of Corrections director Franklin Bucayu showed that one of the stabbings took place at 8:15 a.m. Monday during a volleyball game among inmates at the GIG basketball court.
According to Bucayu, the victim was stabbed by a fellow prisoner after he picked up the ball.
“This resulted [in] two dead, one wounded and one suspect arrested,” Bucayu said in a text message he sent to De Lima who shared it with reporters.
“I want to know what exactly triggered that. Was it the game or something else?” she added.
The justice secretary also said she wanted NBP officials to explain why some prisoners had improvised weapons inside the compound.
NBP officials later clarified that only one inmate was stabbed dead while another was wounded. They said they were still trying to determine if there was a link between the two incidents.
The first happened at 8:15 a.m. when Batang City Jail (BCJ) gang member Nolfe Ladiao, 39, who was serving time for attempted rape and homicide, was attacked by Sputnik gang member and homicide convict Enrico de Asis, 38, at a covered court in the maximum security compound.
According to NBP superintendent Fajardo Lansangan, Ladiao was playing volleyball with his fellow gang members when De Asis suddenly stabbed him with an ice pick. The victim was taken to the NBP hospital where he received treatment while De Asis was taken in for questioning.
Thirty minutes later, another inmate, this time from the Sputnik gang, was killed after he was stabbed in the back by a still unidentified inmate within the same compound.
Murder convict Jorge Almo was walking to the Iglesia ni Cristo chapel at 8:45 a.m. when he was attacked. He was declared dead on arrival at the NBP hospital.
“The area where [Almo] was stabbed is the territory of the BCJ, the Happy-Go-Lucky and other gangs. But we haven’t determined who the suspect is or what gang he belongs to,” Lansangan told the Inquirer.
At the same time, he dismissed the possibility that Ladiao was stabbed as part of an ongoing gang war. “There’s no determined motive yet but it’s most likely personal and not related to the gangs,” he said. “[De Asis] attacked [Ladiao] in the territory of the Genuine Ilocano Gang.”
In the meantime, the prisoners have been locked up in their cells “until an agreement [has been [reached that there will be no further violence. It’s for the inmates’ sake as well as their visitors,’” Lansangan said.
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