Inmate ruled Bilibid with cars for bribe, says witness
A police official formerly assigned at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) revealed that four prison guards manning the New Bilibid Prison’s (NBP) maximum security compound received Toyota Innova from a high-profile inmate as bribe in exchange for protection from drugs raids.
They were called inside the NBP as “Innova Boys,” according to Senior Supt. Jerry Valeroso, one of the witnesses presented at the congressional inquiry into the alleged boom in the drug trade inside the national penitentiary.
“It is the prison guards themselves who bring in drug and pass them on to drug lords incarcerated therein. Four of them are even known as the ‘Innova Boys’ because of the Toyota Innova units given to them by a drug lord inmate,” Valeroso said.
This was before the members of Special Action Force (SAF), the elite unit of the Philippine National Police (PNP), took over and replaced the prison guards at the maximum security compound.
But despite the entry of SAF commandos to the NBP, Valeroso said the drug trade inside the prison is “still alive and well.”
READ: Drug lords rule New Bilibid Prison
“When the PNP SAF took over the security at maximum security, the drug trade was simply transferred to the medium security where it is extremely convenient for the drug lords to sell ‘shabu’ (metamphetamine hydrochloride),” he said.
READ: SAF now mans Bilibid
When Valeroso conducted a surveillance operation inside the NBP, he said he personally witnessed the extravagant lifestyle of the maximum security inmates.
He said the inmates there gambled freely and brazenly displayed guns tucked in their waistbands.
“I noticed inmates with pistols brazenly tucked in their waistbands. Gambling was open and the wagers reached millions of pesos. I was able to watch a billiard game wherein stacks upon stacks of one thousand peso bills were just placed on top of the billiard table and after the game, were just carelessly thrown around,” he said.
Valeroso also admitted to recruiting inmate and former police officer Nonilo Arile as a confidential informant in 2014 to help the CIDG investigate the illegal drug trade in Bilibid.
Arile also testified before the congressional inquiry and revealed names of high-profile inmates involved in drugs and their connections outside prison. IDL/rga
