By Kristine Joy V. Patag
Reporter

REFORMS AT the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) were among the Department of Justice’s (DoJ) achievements on the first year of his watch, Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre said. Yet he also acknowledged that the illegal drug trade has made a comeback at the national penitentiary, even affecting the very police force tasked to end the illicit enterprise.

Interviewed by the media after a Thanksgiving Mass at the DoJ yesterday, Mr. Aguirre said: “When we changed the BuCor personnel with [Philippine National Police-Special Action Forces (PNP-SAF)] personnel on July 20, days after we assumed office, the SAF destroyed the syndicate there responsible for distributing illegal drugs.”

Mr. Aguirre earlier claimed that 70-75% of illegal drugs throughout the Philippines came from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

But he admitted that despite last year’s success, there has been a “resurgence” of the illegal drug trade at the NBP. “I have received reports that there were some reactivation. We are doing something about this. We are going to end this resurgence, some sort of resurgence by some inmates,” he added.

The Justice chief is among the first appointees of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, who was catapulted to the presidency on his platform of eradicating illegal drugs, criminality and corruption.

Among the leading targets of Mr. Duterte’ss avowed crusade is Mr. Aguirre’s predecessor in the DoJ, Senator Leila M. de Lima — who is currently detained at the PNP headquarters and is facing three counts of what her supporters describe as trumped-up illegal drug trading charges. Ms. De Lima’s case is pending before the Muntinlupa Trial Court.

Ms. De Lima on Monday challenged her former colleagues at the DoJ to “salvage” the department that she formerly led from “gross mismanagement and further embarrassment.”

She said in a statement that some of the department’s executives and employees “were forced to do jobs with questionable motives and comply with unreasonable orders.”

“I hope that my former colleagues and coworkers, whom I will continue to pray and look out for, can endure these dark times and remain above the dirty fray. The people at the top cannot define you and your institution if the vast majority do not follow the bad examples being set,” Ms. De Lima said.

SAF ‘TAINTED’
Mr. Aguirre for his part said members of the SAF may have been “tainted” due to its prolonged deployment in the NBP and the large amount of money involved in the trade.

“Because of their familiarity, they have stayed there for more than six months. Our original plan was for them to be in the area for only three months,” Mr. Aguirre said, adding, “Because of the huge amount of money involved, they may have been tainted.”

The elite members of the police force were supposed to guard the NBP for three to six months, Mr. Aguirre said. But he noted that the rotation did not push through since members of the Philippine Marines, who were supposed to take over, were deployed to augment the military forces in war-torn Mindanao.

“We have successfully curbed 75% of the illegal drug trade. If ever, the resurgence is about five to 10% only and we are going to clip it again,” Mr. Aguirre said, adding that BuCor Director General Benjamin C. delos Santos has proposed measures to stop the trade.

Mr. Delos Santos, for his part, said in a text message to reporters that the BuCor had “random raids and [were] able to seize sachets of users surreptitiously entered [in the NBP].”

The BuCor chief, however, said he has “no information” on Mr. Aguirre’s source regarding his estimate on the resurgence in the drug trade at Bilibid. — with Jil Danielle M. Caro

Members of the CIDG at the Bureau of Corrections following an altercation late last year that led to the death of convicted drug lord Anthony Co. — EDD GUMBAN/THE PHILIPPINE STAR

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