PNP probe: Drugs found in Bilibid's Building 14 even with elite lawmen around  

Illegal drugs were found inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City even after elite lawmen from the Philippine National Police (PNP) conducted several raids and took over the supervision of the facility.

This was the finding of the PNP's own investigation on last September's stabbing of four Bilibid inmates: Jaybee Sebastian, Tony Co, Peter Co, and Vicenty Sy. Tony died in the incident.

"Illegal drugs still exist inside Building 14 based on evidence and the result of the drug test to the inmates (including inmate Tony Co) and the records on the seized illegal drugs and paraphernalia from the national penitentiary," said Supt. Francisco Ebreo during an inquiry by the House justice committee on Wednesday.

Ebreo led the police investigation, which found, among others, that the stabbing incidents were not related to a riot inside the national penitentiary.

The wounded inmates were reportedly having a shabu session inside the mess hall before the stabbing incident happened.

Ebreo insisted that on-duty PNP Special Action Force personnel present at the time of the incident acted with regularity in performing their duties and responsibilities.

He also claimed that the Bureau of Corrections and the NBP management acted appropriately following the incident.

However, Ebreo noted that the probe revealed that NBP personnel had limited knowledge on crime scene processing as well as the collection and preservation of evidence.

He said NBP personnel have no standard investigative procedures in crime scene processing.

As early as July, jail guards at the NBP were replaced by members of the PNP Special Action Force to tighten security at the facility and discourage illegal activity and special accommodations for certain inmates.

Despite a series of raids that led to confiscation of contraband, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II in September admitted that authorities have not been able to stamp out the alleged drug trade inside the NBP.

Aguirre said, "90 percent lang ang napipigilan namin. Kahit papaano meron pa ding nakakapasok. Ang mga shabu maaring tinago pa nila sa pader. 'Di natin malaman saan nanggaling yan." — VVP, GMA News