FILE New Bilibid Prison. INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON
MANILA, Philippines — An inmate who was about to obtain freedom could no longer wait and decided to escape from the New Bilibid Prison’s (NBP) minimum security compound.
A source said the inmate, identified as Edgardo Austria with prison number N98P-0248 from the prison facility’s Minimum Security Compound escaped on the same week that an “Oplan Galugad” was conducted.
The national penitentiary such as Bilibid has three security compounds — maximum, medium, and minimum. Convicts serving more than 20 years of prison time are housed at the maximum security compound; On the other hand, persons deprived of liberty (PDL) serving less than 20 years are at the medium security compound, while those close to completing their prison sentence or are 70 years old and above are at the minimum security compound.
INQUIRER.net tried to contact BuCor for confirmation but has yet to respond as of posting time.
Meanwhile, Justice Undersecretary Deo Marco said he already received a report last week about the escapee. He, however, did not disclose the identity of the PDL.
“I have asked for a formal report,” Marco said.
Also early this month, a scuffle erupted at the NBP, leaving one PDL dead and three injured. Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) spokesperson Gabriel Chaclag said it was not a riot but an argument that turned deadly among four inmates.
The incident, Chaclag said occurred while a searching operation was being conducted.
The searching operation or “galugad” yielded over a hundred prohibited items including knives, arrows, mobile phones, wifi.