MANILA, Philippines–Call them “gangs” no more—despite what you see in the movies.
The leaders of the various groups of inmates at New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City said they now prefer to be called “barangays”—like villages or properly governed units—to end decades of being stereotyped in the media as “wild and uncivilized” men behind bars.
They also formed an umbrella organization and designated lawyer Raymond Fortun as their spokesman.
In a two-page statement sent to NBP officials, the newly formed Liga ng mga Barangay sa Kawanihan ng Koreksyon appealed to the public to refrain from calling them gangs.
“We have discarded the gangs of the old years and have embraced the social life that we left when we were convicted and sentenced,” the group said.
It was signed by 14 chairmen representing the barangays (villages) in the maximum security compound: Commando, Batang City Jail, OXO, Sputnik, Ilocandia, BRM, Cuerna 9a, Cuerna 12b, Batman, Batang Cebu, Malipayon, Banal na Gawain, Batang Samar-Leyte and Batang Mindanao.
Named president of Liga was Barangay Commando’s Jaybee Niño Sebastian, who was earlier rumored to have informed authorities about the illegal operations in the compound that resulted in raids that began mid-December.
Barangay Batang City Jail’s Chris Soliva was named vice president and Barangay OXO’s Rodolfo Fernandez was the secretary.
The chairmen said they organized themselves because they did “not want to forget the barangay, how it is being run, and the deeply entwined values of the basic social unit… with appropriate modifications and with approval of the bureau.”
They asked the public to “see the true problems as well as causes of incidents here” as well as “find appropriate solutions for our administrators concerning the essential problems” in Bilibid.
“Please help us… by giving a second look sans movie and media biases, that you may finally see that we are as human as anyone can be, with wives, children, families and friends.”