High-profile inmates crave taste of good life

Fifty thousand pesos for a one-minute phone call? To talk to whom?

No doubt, people who could get them out of the National Bureau of Investigation jail and back into the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City, where they lived like kings in luxurious, secret quarters instead of barred, crowded cells under the noses of corrupt prison officials and guards.

But the guards at the NBI jail are made of a different stuff so that the 20 prominent drug convicts moved there before Christmas were offering top buck to be allowed to contact important people outside.

“It had come to our attention that the high-profile inmates tried to bribe their guards with as much as P50,000 for the use of their cell phones. They are desperate to make an outside contact,” an NBI agent, who asked not to be identified for lack of authority to talk to reporters, told the Inquirer.

The agent said the convicts also refused to eat rationed meals from the NBI canteen.

“The high-profile inmates refused to eat the rationed food and instead asked one of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) guards to buy them fast food like KFC, Yellow Cab and Shakey’s,” the agent said.

As a result of that accommodation and the report about the P50,000 phone call, all guards assigned to the 20 convicts have been ordered not to carry cell phones, pens and paper when on duty.

“The measure is to ensure that high-profile inmates could not bribe the guards whether from the BuCor or the NBI,” the agent said.

The agent also said bank robbery-convict Herbert Colangco, one of the 20, had asked that his music band be allowed to perform in the NBI jail on Christmas Eve. The request was rejected, the agent said.

“Colangco’s reason was he wanted to serenade other prisoners in the jail on Christmas Eve,” the agent said.

Incommunicado

He said the band arrived at the NBI on Christmas Eve and left after three hours when Colangco’s request was denied.

The convicts remained incommunicado and were not allowed to accept visitors, including their lawyers, even on Christmas Day, the agent said.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima ordered the 20 convicts moved to the NBI jail and be held there temporarily incommunicado after the discovery of their luxurious quarters at the NBP during a raid on the National Penitentiary on Dec. 15.

The raid followed reports of illegal drug operations right inside the NBP.

Seized during the raid were methamphetamines believed to be worth P2 million, wads of cash, guns and expensive watches. Discovered in the convicts’ secret quarters were air conditioners, Jacuzzi, sauna, wide-screen television sets, power generators, music studio and sex toys.

Ordered transferred to the NBI headquarters in Manila were convicts Eugene Chua, Sam Li Chua, Vicente Sy, George Sy, Tony Co, Joel Capones, Colangco, Peter Co, Imam Boratong, Clarence Domingo, Tom Chua, Rommel Capones, Jojo Baligad, Willy Chua, Michael Ong, Jacky King, Willy Sy, Noel Martinez and Dona Agojo.

Three prison officials were sacked and placed under investigation, along with a number of prison guards after the raid.

The agent said security had been stepped up around the NBI headquarters amid reports of a jailbreak with aid from “mercenaries.”

He said more platoons of the elite Philippine National Police Special Action Force were deployed on Christmas Eve to the NBI compound.

“There are reports of as much as P50 million for each drug convict to a group that could set them free from the NBI jail,” the agent said.

Mass for inmates?

The source also said Catholic Bishop Ephraim Perez had asked to see drug convict Eugene Chua, but the request was denied.

Perez, according to the agent, at first wanted to talk to Chua. When his request was denied, Perez asked to say Mass for all the inmates at the NBI compound.

When contacted by the Inquirer, Perez denied going to the NBI asking for an audience with Chua.

“I did not go to the NBI and I do not know Chua,” Perez said in a telephone interview.

He also denied asking to say Mass for NBI inmates.

“My schedule for Mass is full. I could not say Mass for them during Christmas,” Perez said.

Transfer questioned

A sister of Martinez has filed a petition in the Court of Appeals questioning the transfer of her brother to the NBI jail.

De Lima has said a court order is not needed to transfer the convicts to the NBI jail because they have lost their civil and political rights and they are under the jurisdiction of the corrections bureau, which operates the NBP.

She has also said the NBI detention center is an extension of the NBP, the corrections bureau and the NBI, these agencies being under the Department of Justice.

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