No end to Bilibid smuggling of phones, drugs – VACC

MANILA, Philippines – The smuggling of mobile phones and illegal drugs into the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) remains rampant, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said Monday.

“Yung proliferation ng illegal drugs and other major activities is still there. It’s happening at masama, compromised po ang Building 14 (maximum security facility),” VACC president Arsenio Evangelista said during the Senate hearing on the controversial good conduct time allowance and the release of heinous crime convicts.

“Merong source ang sinasabi, merong apat na cellphone na nakuha inside Building 14. Paano nakakapasok yun?” Evangelista added.

Evangelista also bared that a mobile phone can be smuggled into the prison facility for P500,000 to P2.5 million.

“Ang mabibigat po according to PDEA director, yung mga ganitong klaseng cellphone, maipasok mo for about P2 million to P2.5. ‘Yung mga 2G to 3G, that’s P500,000 to 700,000,” Evangelista said.

Evangelista said he was told by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino that the anti-illegal drugs agency was eased out of NBP.

“At naguusap kami nila Aaron Aquino. Ang tanong ko, kung ganon, bakit walang aksyon? Hindi niyo inaano. E ang sabi nila, yung PDEA, yung office daw doon way back, tinanggal. So it’s all up to you kung anong ibig sabihin non bakit tinanggal. Sana nandon yung inter-agency cooperation,” Evangelista said./gsg