MANILA, Philippines — The alleged money-making rackets inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) rake in from P300,00 to P500,000 a week, a former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) official privy to the said schemes disclosed.
During Thursday’s resumption of the Senate probe into the alleged irregularities within the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), several money-making rackets were bared by former and current officials of the agency.
It was Senator Panfilo Lacson who asked for a “ballpark” amount of how much such rackets could make in a week.
“Ang personal knowledge ko lang, ‘yong ang mga pinarating sa ‘kin, minimum 300,000 to 500,000 thousand a week. ‘Yong mga pinapaabot,” NBI intelligence officer Jovencio Ablen Jr. told the Senate panel.
Ablen was one of the those who testified against former justice secretary and now Senator Leila de Lima, who is being detained for drug charges.
Among the money-making rackets exposed during the hearing are transactions involving sex workers or “tilapia” which are brought inside the NBP for a fee. /muf
READ: Of ‘tilapia’ and women: More money-making schemes inside Bilibid exposed