Religious group tagged in drugs and prostitution in Bilibid

By: Tetch Torres-Tupas - 8 years ago

A religious group has been bringing drugs and prostitutes inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said Friday.

“I received information that some religious personnel preaching inside Bilibid are conduits of illegal drugs and prostitution,” Aguirre said.

The religious group, according to Aguirre has a kapilya (chapel) inside the prison facility.

“Apparently this is a bonafide religious group,” Aguirre said adding that the group brings in four to five women who turned out to be prostitutes.

Aguirre said a non-government organization (NGO) and three prison guards informed him of the religious group’s suspicious activities.

Following such information, Aguirre said preaching and other religious activities are temporarily banned inside the NBP.

He said the ban on religious groups doing outreach work inside the prison facility will be lifted once the situation normalizes.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched its “Oplan Digmaang Droga” as part of the Duterte administration’s war on illegal drugs. NBP is one of the penal facilities being supervised by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor). BuCor is an attached agency of the DOJ. CDG/rga