President Rodrigo Duterte speaks before BJMP officials and personnel in his first visit to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday promised to put a television in each jail cell at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, whose inmates include high-profile personalities like Janet Lim-Napoles, alleged pork barrel scam mastermind, and Farhana Maute, mother of Maute Group founders Omarkhayam and Abdullah.
At around 4:30 p.m., Duterte set foot at the camp for the first time as President.
He had a security briefing with police officials for about an hour before he visited some of the cells.
The President, however, did not visit the cells of Napoles and Maute.
“There are high profile and high risk inmates like Farhana Maute detained inside our jails in Bicutan, including suspects on the Maguindanao Massacre,” Senior Insp. Xavier Solda, spokesperson of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), said.
The chief executive said he was satisfied with the conditions at Camp Bagong Diwa.
“One is that I came to just observe. Tinitignan ko kung ang sitwasyon ng mga presuhan at okay naman sila and I’m happy,” he said in a speech. “And, of course, we would want to give them everything. Pero ang nasabi ko sa kanila, each and every selda would have a TV by the end of the month. Yun na lang ang maibigay ko muna.”
“Okay ang sitwasyon. They are comfortable, clean,” he added. “I’m satisfied by the way it is being run by the BJMP. So I would like to congratulate ang kasamahan niyo, kaibigan ko, for a job well done so far.”
Duterte also promised to increase the salary of police officers next year.
“Sabi ko yung salary niyo doblado,” he said. “So by next year doblado na.” /atm