Prison inmates sit inside a compound chapel as police conduct a search operation in the cells for contraband and illegal drugs at the Manila City Jail in Manila on Oct. 21, 2022. (Photo: AFP)
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has vowed to increase the activities of its prison ministry following confirmed reports of drug trade inside jails in the Catholic-majority nation.
“We will increase our presence by assigning more missionaries to prisons… their programs would hopefully decrease the involvement of prisoners in illegal drugs,” Bishop Joel Baylon of Legazpi, chairman of the prison ministry of the CBCP told UCA News on March 9.
Bishop Baylon cited the Jesuit-run livelihood program in the country’s biggest prison facility in Muntinlupa City where prisoners are taught how to make crosses and soap.
“That keeps them busy. If they earn [money] from inside, they’d rather devote their time to it than to drugs,” the prelate added.
More than 500 prisoners were tested in a correctional facility in Davao province in the Mindanao region, while 200 more were subjected to mandatory drug testing in Cebu City in the Visayas region on March 7.
The results are yet to be released by the prison authorities.
Davao province correction inspector Rogelio Carumay said they were investigating several prison guards who allegedly received kilos of illegal drugs from a prison facility in the province.
“Now, it’s the other way around… The prisoners manufacture [illegal] drugs. Their guards distribute them and we have received reports of this incident here,” Carumay told UCA News.
Carumay cited the increasing dismissal of police officers from service due to their involvement in illegal drugs.
From July 2016 to May 2022, 720 police officers were axed due to their involvement in illegal drugs. Of this, 530 tested positive for taking illegal drugs while more than 200 were ‘protectors’ of drug syndicates, according to the state-run Philippine Information Agency.
“The [anti-] drug war is not only in the streets but inside our prison facilities. Our very own policemen and prison guards are addicted to it,” Carumay added.
The mandatory drug test was in response to a plea by the Philippine Bureau of Corrections that more uniformed personnel are linked to the illegal drug trade within the four walls of the prison.
In November 2022, newly appointed correction chief General Gregorio Catapang came across kilos of cocaine during a surprise visit to a prison in the capital Manila. Catapang vowed to put all prison facilities under a mandatory drug test.
Inmates later claimed that the contraband was sold outside the facility, using prison personnel as peddlers.
Families of inmates who are drug addicts admitted prison personnel knew about the illegal drug activity in penitentiaries but kept their mouths shut.
I saw once “cooking utensil which my husband said they would use to cook cocaine. I told him it’s dangerous but he said the authorities gave their blessing,” the wife of an inmate, who wished to remain anonymous, told UCA News.
A son of a drug suspect revealed that prison guards received commissions.
“Yes, there are commissions. So, the bigger the sale, the bigger the commission. No one dared to question it because our own loved ones would fear for their lives,” he said on condition of anonymity.
Since assuming office in 2016, former President Rodrigo Duterte started a “war on drugs”. However, instead of yielding positive results, it turned out to be a disaster, claiming the lives of more than 12,000 Filipinos, according to Human Rights Watch.
