BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) staged a “greyhound operation” or shakedown at the Metro Bacolod District Jail (MBDJ) in Barangay Singcang-Airport.
Among the recoveries were kitchen knives, improvised weapons or shanks, electronic devices, mobile phone charges, a saw, and a coconut and ice grater or kudkuran, among others.
Other contrabands recovered were cigarettes, cans of meat loaf, and other unauthorized items.
BJMP-Negros Occidental provincial administrator Jail Superintendent Marie Rose Laguyo clarified that the operation was planned even before the statement released by Police Station 8 commander Police Major Joery Puerto that a drug ring was operating inside MBDJ.
Puerto made the statement following the arrest of a bodegero or warehouseman for illegal drugs last week; the suspect yielded P1.4-million worth of shabu.
According to Laguyo, the BJMP in Western Visayas also conducted a similar operation in Aklan.
In relation to the alleged operation of a drug ring inside the MBDJ, Laguyo said they will further strengthen their coordination with anti-drug operatives of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for intelligence-driven greyhound operations.
They have also started testing their personnel as well as inmates for illegal drugs, and tests will now be conducted either every month or quarterly.
Earlier, Atty. Jairus Anthony Dogelio, spokesperson for the BJMP in Western Visayas, said it was possible that the information from the suspects may be real; they were thus investigating the matter with the help of the Bacolod City Police Office’s intelligence unit.
“We will direct our intelligence officer nga mag-coordinate sa aton counterpart from [BCPO], indi naton ma-discount kun tuod nga may contact sila sa sulod,” Dogelio said.
Dogelio further said it is also possible that the recently arrested drug suspects may only be pointing the MBDJ inmates as their contact persons to avoid getting chased down by their own cohorts outside, as well as to lure investigators away from their true contacts.
“Pinaka-easy nila nga escape ara sa jail ang itudlo nila, not necessarily nga intsakto ina,” he said./PN