Bite even from food fee

Ragos has previously admitted collecting millions of pesos from inmates which he then allegedly delivered to De Lima.

Corrupt Department of Justice (DoJ) and Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officials during the time of detained Sen. Leila de Lima as Justice secretary made money even out of the daily subsistence allowance of inmates.

Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong said during his time as director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), P5 of the daily food allowance of inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) was pocketed by abusive officials.

He said at least P2 went to the DoJ, while P1 was allotted for the BuCor chief and another P1 for other BuCor and NBP officials.

This confirmed a previous report by the Daily Tribune quoting a reliable source who was privy on the BuCor and NBP operations.

The Daily Tribune source urged the Senate to dig deeper into the subsistence and medical allowances of inmates. At that time, the Senate was only focused on the botched release of convicted rapist and murderer Antonio Sanchez by virtue of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) Law.

BuCor has proposed an increase in the daily subsistence allowance of individual inmates in all of its colonies from P60 to P70 and medical allowance from P10 to P15. It has an assumed 47,010 inmates for calendar year 2020.

Magalong particularly identified former BuCor officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos as having benefited from the share from subsistence allowance during his time, apart from taking a payoff from drug lords.

Ragos has previously admitted collecting millions of pesos from inmates which he then allegedly delivered to De Lima.

“He (Ragos) was also on the take in the additional subsistence allowance given to the detainees,” Magalong said during a Senate hearing last Thursday.

“According to our sources, the additional subsistence allowance was divided by the BuCor and DoJ. I presume at least P5 per inmate,” he added.

At that time, Magalong said there were about 21,000 inmates inside NBP.

Apart from these, he said corrupt NBP personnel are also making money from smuggling contraband inside the NBP.

“Everything there has a tag price — you want a five-star like dwelling equipped with very good lighting, there’s a price for that,” he said.

Former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II backed up Magalong’s statement, saying every move in NBP is prompted by money.

“In my own opinion, BuCor has the dirtiest operation. There is no action there that does not involve money… to transfer from Building 14 to maximum to medium, that will take millions (of pesos) and that’s only one inmate,” said Aguirre during the same hearing.

Magalong was the author of Oplan “Cronus” designed to launch simultaneous raids inside NBP in 2014 amid reports of the proliferation of illegal drugs and other illegal activities inside the Maximum Security Compound.

“Cronus” was a product of discreet meetings among top officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP).

Magalong presented the plan to De Lima, who was then DoJ secretary.

Eventually, he and the CIDG were dropped from the actual raid that was led by De Lima herself on 15 December 2014 or months after “Cronus” was presented by Magalong.

On the part of PDEA, they were only asked to provide K-9 units hours before the actual raid.

Among the units involved in the actual raid were the NBP led by then director Frank Jesus Bucayu; National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which were directly under the supervision of De Lima as Justice secretary; National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), then under Director Marcelo Garbo Jr.; and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC).

However, Magalong expressed being puzzled why the raiding teams failed to present in the inventory of confiscated items some important things targeted by “Cronus.”