Long before the celebrated killing of radio broadcaster Percy Lapid on Oct. 3 allegedly plotted from the inside of the well-guarded prison walls of the National Bilibid Penitentiary (NBP) in Muntinlupa City, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla had already announced plans to transform it into a government center. Remulla bared the plans of a proposed government center to rise at the sprawling 551-hectare NBP early on when he assumed the Justice Department. The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) that runs the NBP is one of the attached agencies under Justice Department.
Currently, all the persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) at the NBP are gradually removed under the decongestion program. There are still 29,204 PDLs being housed at the various cells designated from minimum to maximum security areas at the NBP as of last October’s head count.
The NBP, built in 1940, was supposed to hold only around 7,000 PDLs in detention.
The long incarceration though of the many hardened criminals have turned them into prison gang leaders inside the NBP. They endured this congestion by turning their lifetime jail term punishment into lucrative crime activities inside.
Regarded as a prime real estate property, there were attempts by the previous administrations to privatize the NBP.
Either leasing or selling the NBP are among the options eyed in the past. The proceeds of which are purportedly to raise revenues for the government. But as far as the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is concerned, privatization of the NBP is out of the question, Remulla declared. Remulla announced the entire NBP complex will be decommissioned. Then, he explained, the entire grounds will be developed into a government center where various State agencies will be located. Remulla first disclosed this to us during our Kapihan sa Manila Bay on Aug.24.
That early on, Remulla was already on the way to implementing Republic Act (RA) No. 11928 approved during the 18th Congress while he was still a Congressman of Cavite. Under this law, the maximum security prison facility shall be built in a location away from the general population and other PDLs, preferably within a military establishment, or on an island separate from the mainland. The bill, which seeks to decongest jails and deter crimes inside the penal facilities, also directs the Justice Department to determine the location of the facility.
That was before the Lapid assassination took place and the subsequent killing of Jun Villamor, a PDL inside the NBP who allegedly acted as the middleman and hired the assassin to do the hit job. But the most damning discovery that Remulla unearthed from the investigations into the twin killings of Lapid and Villamor pointed all the way to the office of BuCor chief Gerald Bantag.
Making himself scarce from police and DOJ investigators, Bantag appeared and talked with various media entities to belie as having masterminded the killing of both Lapid and Villamor. From his latest media statements though, Bantag claimed he is ready to face the Lapid and Villamor murder charges against him. Bantag’s lawyer received last Monday the subpoena issued against him by the DOJ. The State Prosecutors assigned by Remulla to handle both cases against Bantag set the preliminary investigation on Nov. 23.
Acting on the findings and recommendations of the DOJ Secretary, President Marcos earlier approved the 90-day preventive suspension of Bantag and immediately named retired Army Gen. Gregorio Catapang Jr. as Officer-in-Charge of the BuCor. The Chief Executive expressed in strongest terms his dismay over the accusations against Bantag. As reported to him by the Justice Secretary, the President got the impression that the erstwhile BuCor chief run the NBP like his own “fiefdom.”
As validated by further investigations conducted by Catapang, Bantag indeed ruled the NBP like his own kingdom. Other than criminal activities, there is a “centralized system” on how contrabands get in and out of the NBP. Drones are reportedly even being used to deliver shabu inside the NBP premises. Jammers supposedly installed in the entire NBP to deter use of smuggled mobile phones instead messed up communications of prison authorities inside.
All these illegal activities have been taking place with the obvious tacit knowledge of Bantag all this time that he lorded his “fiefdom” whose subjects are all under his mercy inside the NBP.
When he took over, Catapang appealed for the cooperation of all PDLs in his bid to cleanse the NBP from the hanky-pankies perpetrated in the past by his immediate predecessor. So far, at least 500 cell phones have been surrendered. Catapang though promised to procure computer tablets for the PDLs so that they could still call their loved ones, especially those in the provinces through a BuCor-provided means of online communications.
Before these twin killings, Remulla even joined Bantag in visiting and inspecting the other penal facilities under the BuCor. Initially, Remulla eyed to transfer the PDLs from the NBP to Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro, also under BuCor supervision.
But it turned out the ex-BuCor chief had already jumped ahead of this plan. Bantag admitted having entered into a contract with a private firm to develop the NBP land into a commercial, residential and industrial area. Bantag asserted that he and he alone is empowered to do so without the imprimatur from his immediate superior, the Justice Secretary.
The private firm involved in the excavation at the NBP, Agua Tierra Oro Mina Development Corp. (ATOM), backed out last week from the joint venture agreement to develop the facility into a business center. Virgilio Bote, president of ATOM, withdrew from the deal with Bantag after the discovery of diggings purportedly for treasure hunting of the fabled “Yamashita treasure” believed buried at the NBP.
The suspended BuCor chief has done so much digging of dirt that all are now finding its way back to him.