Philippines’ Manila According to the head of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), drug lords serving sentences at the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm (SPPF) in the province of Occidental Mindoro are allegedly “moving heaven and earth” to be transferred back to the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City, where they can allegedly continue their drug operations in the capital area even behind bars.
On Wednesday, Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. sent BuCor authorities an order to closely monitor the actions of SPPF detainees. The order was based on information that the inmates were being “recruited” by drug lords to stage a protest and demand to be returned to New Bilibid Prison (NBP).
“There are reports reaching us that the drug lords are having a hard time at Sablayan, so I ordered Corrections Chief Supt. Ruben Veneracion, superintendent of SPPF, to be always on the lookout and put his personnel guarding the PDLs (persons deprived of liberty) on rotation to avoid familiarity,” the BuCor chief stated.
signature initiative
“Apart from getting signatures from PDLs to petition that they be brought back to Manila—for obvious reasons—they are planning to hold a protest rally,” Catapang continued.
In an effort to free up space in the national prison and “paralyze their nefarious activities,” BuCor reported that around 500 prominent criminals and drug lords from NBP, including 171 Chinese nationals, had been moved to SPPF’s “super-maximum” facility since August.
Since there is no telecom signal in Sablayan, the drug lords are unable to stay in contact with one another or do business outside of their cell. In order to get satellite phones in, they are now buying off the guards there, according to Catapang.
Situated in the coastal town of Sablayan, the penitentiary farm occupies an area of approximately 16,190 hectares.
“Some of the drug lords even wrote notes to their lackeys on pieces of paper because it’s hard for them to speak with each other outside. Then they would speak with the security personnel to have a picture of the instructions (on how) completed,” he continued.
However, Catapang insisted that although the issue of illegal drugs remains in the NBP, it may no longer be seen as the center of the nation’s drug trade because the NBP has undergone “significant changes for the better.”
Before the NBP is expected to close in 2028, he stated that he intended to preserve things that way.In order to better “synchronize” their antidrug operations, particularly those targeted at prison facilities and penal farms, BuCor, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine National Police, and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency signed an agreement on October 10.
In accordance with the agreement, a “interagency collaborative group” made up of the signatory agencies will have an operations center established inside NBP.
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