MANILA—Former Philippine National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa on Friday formally took his oath as the new Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief before Justice Secretary Menardo Guevara.
Dela Rosa said he is evaluating the specifics of which buildings in the facility need immediate repairs, adding that at times inmates and jail guards have no choice but to be soaked during downpours due to the leaks in the dilapidated roofs.
Aside from noting the need to address over-congestion in the facility, dela Rosa said he is looking at the immediate segregation of local from the foreign, noting that communication between the two could be providing support in running the drug trade.
“Yung Chinese drug lord sila ang may contact dun sa supplydoon China, tapos itong mga local drug lords, Filipino drug lords sila ang mga contact sa local distribution dito sa Pilipinas. So ang drug problem is dalawang components yan – supply and demand. So kung i-segregate mo yung supply side, yung mgaChinese, hindi sila makipag-communicate dito sa mga Pilipino na drug distributor hanggang supply lang sila. Ito namang sa side ngFilipino drug lords, pag walang supply na makarating, kahit na anong demand sa labas, kahit gaano kalakas ang demand, wala silangsupply. Between supply and demand, they should be cut-off, hiwalay sila,” dela Rosa said.
(The Chinese have contacts in China, local drug lords have contacts in local distribution. The drug problem has two components– supply and demand. So if you segregate the supply side, which are the Chinese, they could not communicate with the Filipinos who act as distributor. They will only be limited to supply. These Filipino drug lords, they will be left with a wanting demand. Between supply and demand, they should cut off, they are separated.)
Dela Rosa also ordered the return of inmates billeted at the facility’s hospital for months to their cells.
“Eh kaso sa ngayon halo-halo sila yung iba pang drug lord dun ilang buwan na sa hospital. Sa ospital kasi anybody can go there. So yung mga Filipino drug lords can go there at makipag-communicate dito sa mga Chinese drug lord na naka-confine,” dela Rosa said.
(The problem now is that they are mixed together with other drug lords for months inside the hospital. It is because anybody can go to the hospital. So the Filipino drug lords can go there and communicate with the Chinese drug lords who are confined.)
Dela Rosa said they will also look into the effectiveness of cellphone jammers installed in the facility earlier during the previous administration, adding that they will look into the technical details of the cellphone jammer antenna .
Some suspected the antenna have been programmed to act as a booster instead of actually blocking cellphone signals inside the facility, dela Rosa said.
Guevara, for his part, said the President has given dela Rosa marching orders to do all what is necessary to accomplish eliminating the drug trade in the national penitentiary.