BuCor, pumalag sa ‘whitewash’ sa strip search probe

MANILA, Philippines —  Hindi katanggap-tanggap sa Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) ang naging pahayag ng grupong Karapatan na posibleng magkaroon ng “whitewash” sa isinasagawang imbestigasyon kaugnay sa reklamo ng dalawang maybahay ng dalawang person deprived of liberty (PDL) sa ipinatutupad na “strip search” sa New Bilibid Prison (NBP) sa Muntinlupa City.

Iginiit ni BuCor Director General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. na dapat nilang alamin sa Commission on Human Rights na may hawak sa imbestigasyon at paano magkakaroon ng whitewash. Hindi aniya, dapat guluhin at haluan ng pamumulitika ang isyu.

“We submitted to this investigation to probe that we have nothing to hide, in fact we welcomed this investigation by the CHR which started Monday afternoon. The seven corrections officers directly involved with the strip cavity search were just awaiting the subpoena from CHR for them to submit their sworn statements, ” paliwanag ni Catapang.

“The BuCor is one with the CHR in its mission to recognize and uphold human rights more so with persons deprived of liberty, as a matter of fact in December 2022, just less than two months after I was appointed as BuCor Director General, I signed a memorandum of agreement with CHR Chair Richard Palpal-latoc for closer cooperation and coordination towards ensuaring the prevention of violations and protection of the human rights of PDLs in all our operating prison and penal farms,” dagdag pa niya.