Bilibid guards on hunger strike to demaned prison system modernization
Let face it. The people who launched this protest have our respect, but the government officials who can actually do something about this persistent problem may no longer be paying attention with the elections coming up.
Led by Chito Patingo and Alvin Faeldo, the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) guards are now on the sixth day of their hunger strike in an attempt to demand for the modernization of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).
“Patingo and Faeldo, who are on official leave as they do their protest, lamented the delay in the implementation The Bureau of Corrections Act of 2013 (Republic Act No. 10575), which mainly seeks to upgrade prison facilities, professionalize and restructure the bureau and increase the salary and benefits of its personnel,” reports Jeffrey C. Tiangco on Journal Online.
The report noted: “Patingo and Faeldo claimed some jail guards are conniving with inmates on illegal activities due to their meager earnings.”
Meanwhile, as the report added, “NBP Superintendent Richard Schwarzkopf Jr. said they had informed the Department of Budget and Management about their grievances but Sec. Florencio Abad has yet to act on it. “
For his part, BuCor spokesman Monsignor Roberto Olaguer said there are currently 1,800 jail guards for about 24,000 NBP inmates.
A number of prisoners have also joined the guards’ hunger strike.
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