Friday, December 01, 2006 Protest follows inmates moving By Mia E. Abellana & Jovy S. Taghoy Sun.Star Staff Reporters With Rene H. Martel
SOME 700 of the more than 2,400 male inmates from the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) were moved to a new and bigger facility in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City yesterday.
But hours after the transfer, their co-prisoners in the old facility in Barangay Lahug near the Asiatown IT Park set off a noise barrage about 8:30 last night.
Their racket forced BBRC Warden Efren Nemeño to call for assistance from the Bureau of Fire Protection, which sent two fire trucks, and the different units of the Cebu City police.
About 100 BBRC inmates in brigada (cell) 6 and 7 reportedly sympathized with those in Kalunasan.
They heard over the radio that the inmates transferred to Kalunasan were placed in one cell and had fainted for lack of water and food.
They got angry. They shouted, broke the light bulbs in their cells and banged the bars.
Nemeño tried to appease them. He pointed out that one building in the new facility has 24 cells that can hold 50 inmates each, more than enough for the 717 who were already transferred.
But four inmates were stubborn. Erwin Suico, Roberto “Obet” Hegremosa, Allan Mosqueda, an official of a group in BBRC, and Noe Padayao allegedly instigated their peers to mount the noise barrage.
All four are facing drug cases. Padayao allegedly set fire to the blackboard in the lobby. They are now placed in isolation cells and stripped of their visiting privileges.
The cells are left open because the facility that was built for 250 inmates in 1975 held more than 2,400 prisoners.
The inmates also burned pillows and sacks.
The police were forced to fire at least eight shots in the air to settle down the prisoners.
The ruckus lasted about an hour.
Nemeño initially reported that no one was hurt in the incident. But the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation had to send a team to the jail because an inmate, Amado Quiros, suffered a graze wound in the left thigh.
Despite the disturbance, the transfer of the inmates will continue today.
Nemeño said they hope to finish the transfer in three days.
He added that they will not disrupt today’s scheduled dry run because they will only pass a small portion of Salinas Drive.
Ten passenger jeepneys were hired for P2,000 each to transport the inmates, after Mayor Tomas Osmeña refused to lend BJMP City Hall’s Kaoshiung buses.
Told of the transfer and reminded of the water problem at the new jail, Osmeña just shrugged his shoulders and dismissed the question.
“Why are you asking me that? Let them solve their own problem. Don’t ask anything from me. Palit na lang sila’g Nature Spring (bottled water),” he said.
Chief Supt. Antonio Cruz, officer-in-charge of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), said that they are meeting with the Department of Public Works and Highways and other agencies to solve the water supply problem.
Kalunasan officials opposed the transfer, saying they do not have enough water for the 2,466 inmates.
“It’s not that I do not want to give water. It’s because of our situation,” said Kalunasan Barangay Captain Francisco Pintor Jr. in a separate interview.
Pintor said the jail does not have a proper drainage system and have yet to sign a memorandum of agreement with Kalunasan.
He also said the reservoir did not have enough water for his constituents if he provides for two jails.
Aside from the BBRC, the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center also gets water from Kalunasan.
Another concern he raised was money.
“Magsabot sad ta pila inyong bayad, uy! Di man ni free (We should agree on the payment. This is not free),” he said, adding that their pumps are run by electricity.
Until the water supply is resolved, jail officials plan to fetch water from their old well at the BBRC to Kalunasan every day.
The BJMP is spending P2,000 per jeepney for the transfer each day. This includes the driver’s wage, gasoline and the rental for the jeepney.
Nemeño said the Beverly Hills Subdivision allowed them to pass to get to the new facility quicker.
Police motorcycles and police vans led each jeepney to the new location.
Cruz came to Cebu to supervise the move, which was ordered by President Arroyo before the Asean summit on Dec. 10 to 14.
The BBRC staff decided to transfer those with drug-related cases first and already grouped them in cells alphabetically.
Cruz said they received augmentation forces from different regions just to carry out the transfer.
Two platoons of Special Action Force policemen and 82 jail guards helped the 89 BBRC guards and officials. Nearly 50 policemen from different units of the Cebu City Police Office also assisted.
City Councilor Augustus Pe Jr., who heads the committee on dangerous drugs, said that with fewer inmates inside each jail cell, the guards should be able keep on eye on them better than when they were in the old jail.
Pe observed the transfer yesterday.
There were mixed reactions from inmates and their families.
While some lamented that Kalunsan was not very accessible, others welcomed the decongestion.
“I pity my son inside. He is always sick because it is so hot in the cell. At least in the jail they will have fresh air from the mountains,” said one mother, who camped outside the BBRC to see her son being transported.
She came all the way from Santander town not knowing that her son was being transferred to Kalunasan.
A wife, though, was worried about the location of the new jail.
“We are poor. It is better in the old facility because fare is cheaper. It is difficult to bring food to Kalunasan,” a wife lamented, saying she was not satisfied with the jail’s daily rations.
The inmates welcomed the transfer, though.
They even chided each other that they would not miss the smells of the BBRC.
Until they have fully adjusted to the new building, visiting privileges are temporarily suspended.
“We already told them about this. This is only temporary until we can see what needs to be done,” said Nemeño.
