Jail officials assure safety of Chinese inmates

MANILA, Philippines—The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) Wednesday guaranteed the safety of Chinese nationals serving sentences in the Philippine prisons.

BJMP Director Rosendo Dial downplayed the possibility of Filipino inmates attacking Chinese prisoners as a result of Wednesday’s executions in China.

“We are maintaining normal security procedures in our jails nationwide,” he told the Inquirer.

Asked if he would order the temporary transfer of Chinese prisoners to a safer facility, Dial said he saw no need for it.

“Besides, we might wrongly provoke our inmates to attack Chinese prisoners,” he said.

According to Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, 110 Chinese nationals, including eight women, are in jails across the country on drug charges.

He said 88 of them are in prisons in the National Capital Region.