ILIGAN City ― In a statement to reporters yesterday, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Warden Carlo Obrigue told reporters why the “noise barrage”' happened.
It was because some inmates at the said facility at Tipanoy, this city “did not want to submit themselves to a random drug test.” This, he said was an offshoot of something that happened Friday, last week.
It was then learned that while he and his men in the said facility were roving around inside, they became aware of something being “thrown” inside which came from outside and which nearly hit him, he said.
Per analysis, those things that were being thrown could have been drugs, he said, which the inmates could use. Hence, the decision to subject them to random drug tests.
The “noise barrage” occurred Sunday afternoon beginning around 2 pm and lasted for around four hours. There were allegations then that they had subjected some inmates to torture.
Obrigue denied such allegations, saying that “that is not within our mandate” adding that they had just “touched the shoulders” of some inmates and reminded them that they should not do illegal things inside the facility.
A report from the engineers that came to the facility to assess the damage, estimated around P350,000 during the barrage, as walls and floors were being subjected to physical demolitions during the process.
It was also learned that aside from throwing something inside the facility, which he termed as “labay” there was also another method which he termed as “bingwit.”
This was discovered by the guards at rooftops who saw something dark, flying thereabouts the facility, and upon closer scrutiny, they saw something attached to those dark objects. “Bingwit,” to note, is the Bisaya word for “fishing.”
BJMP now is silent, even as for the time being, visitation from the outside has been suspended.
Even personnel from the Alternative Learning System and Tesda are not allowed.
It was then learned that said chief warden is new to the assignment, having begun his duty there only on March 4. He had been assigned to Malaybalay City and Lanao Norte, he said.
