For love’s sake, De Lima restores NBP stay-in visits

By: Tarra Quismundo - 10 years ago

MANILA, Philippines—Inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) will definitely feel the love this Valentine’s Day, as their wives have again been allowed conjugal visits on weekends, and an overnight stay on this day of romance.

Relenting in the name of love, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has restored overnight conjugal visitation at the Muntinlupa City prison after months of withdrawing the privilege following raids at the facility late last year that yielded contraband goods and revealed luxury accommodations within the compound.

“I have allowed (conjugal visits) for Valentine’s, (and) the stay-in privilege (today),” De Lima said on Friday.

“I have restored the visitations but for weekends only, especially now that there’s Valentine’s (Day),” the justice official said. “But again, it’s subject to certain restrictions, like only the immediate family can visit and only within limited hours,” she added.

De Lima said she restored the weekend visitation privilege at the NBP a few weeks back, but granted an overnight stay for the inmates’ wives especially on the day of hearts.

The concession was granted more than a week after the inmates’ wives, who had organized themselves into the Alliance of Inmate and Detainees-Dalaw (AID-Dalaw), met with De Lima to appeal for conjugal visits for today’s special celebration.

Inmates also “desire to be loved and cared for by their families and relatives,” as prison life can “get lonely,” the group said in their appeal.

De Lima said the visitation privilege was restored two weeks back, but was limited to two days a week. “(The group) just proposed adding another day—Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday—and it’s timely because it’s Valentine’s Day (today),” she added.

Visits at the NBP were originally allowed from Tuesdays to Sundays, but the schedule was changed and conjugal visits suspended as part of stricter security measures enforced after a series of raids in December.

During the raids, De Lima and the raiding team found contraband including cash and illegal drugs in luxury villas known to belong to convicted drug lords. The air-conditioned, fully-furnished units have since been torn down.

Limited visitations

The justice secretary had 19 high-profile inmates transferred to a detention facility at the National Bureau of Investigation’s headquarters in Manila and soon decreed limited visitation rights.

“The inmates understand why we’re doing this because the situation is still volatile. We don’t want any untoward incident, like an explosion, to endanger visitors,” De Lima said, referring to the Jan. 8 blast that rocked the NBP and left one inmate dead and 19 others wounded.

Aside from relaxing visitation rules at the NBP, De Lima also allowed more visitation days at the NBI facility, where she had earlier barred the visits, prompting the inmates’ lawyers and wives to file petitions in the court demanding that they be allowed to see their loved ones.