Senator Dick Gordon has asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the killings of Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officials and personnel as the Senate continues its probe on the anomalies within the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).
According to Gordon, there have been at least 11 killings of BuCor staff members since 2011, most of which were done by motorcycle-riding gunmen.
“Most of killings were perpetrated by motorcycle-riding gunmen.”
The veteran legislator questioned Legal Division Chief Attorney Fredric Anthony Santos if he is aware of the killings and what the bureau is doing to resolve the crime.
“The NBP has yet to solve the cases.”
Santos told the seasoned lawmaker that he personally knows the murdered personnel but the bureau has yet to solve the cases. However, he said that one gunman behind the killing of a prison guard has been caught.
The murdered officials and personnel include BuCor Documents Section Assistant Ruperto Traya Jr. who was a victim of a riding-in-tandem shooting inside the Bilibid, as well as, Bureau of Reservation Security Service (BRSS) Inspector Romel Reyes, who was killed in September 2018, and Corrections Inspector Angelito Peralta who was shot dead in December 2018.
On September 12, Corrections Inspector Edgardo Ferrer was stabbed with a pair of scissors by an inmate inside the Maximum Security Compound of the NBP.
Incidents such as these struck fear on the inmates, said Justice Undersecretary Deo Marco.
It was reported that the Philippine National Police (PNP) was looking at the possible link of BuCor murder cases to the controversy surrounding the implementation of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law that freed early inmates convicted of heinous crimes.