MANILA, Philippines — A total of 30,159 inmates in the seven prisons and penal farms under the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) have had their gang tattoos removed under the “Oplan Bura Tatak” program as their way of renouncing their group affiliations.
“This is our New Year’s gift to President Duterte and the nation,” BuCor spokesperson Gabriel Chaclag told the Inquirer on Tuesday.
Chaclag said the inmates “agreed” to have their gang marks erased under the program aimed at keeping peace and order in correction facilities, including New Bilibid Prison.
The majority of those who took part in the program that ended on Dec. 24 were from New Bilibid Prison. A total of 22,526, or almost 80 percent, of the over 28,000 inmates at Bilibid volunteered to have their gang tattoos removed or concealed to signify that they no longer belonged to any group.
At the maximum security compound housing those convicted of heinous crimes, 14,388 prisoners got their tattoos erased, including the 167 leaders of the 12 major gangs at Bilibid.
“[The Bilibid maximum security compound] is prison gang-free at present,” Chaclag said.
Others were from the medium (7,480) and minimum (183) security compounds, and 475 from the Reception and Diagnostics Center.