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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Strip search of Bilibid PDLs' visitors now 'a thing of the past'

Strip search of Bilibid PDLs' visitors now 'a thing of the past'

Published Nov 13, 2024 06:06 am

Strip search of visitors of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City is now "a thing of the past."

The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) now has the nes Soter RS full-body scanners to check on visitors, Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. said on Wednesday, Nov. 13.

Catapang presented before the media the bureau's scanners.

“This will eliminate the need for strip searches and manual cavity checks on visitors of PDLs," he said.

He also said that two new scanners have been purchased for P20 million each.

"We have decided to deploy these body scanners, the first in the Philippines, initially at the entrance of the National Headquarters' Administrative Building and the Inmate Visiting Services Unit of the Maximum Security Camp in New Bilibid Prison,” Catapang said.

“We plan to procure additional scanners for deployment across our prisons and penal farms nationwide," he disclosed.

The body scanners will “really help protect us from insinuations of human rights violations in the performance of our duties,” he also said.

Last May, Catapang ordered the stop in the conduct of strip and cavity searches of visitors of inmates after receiving complaints from two wives of prisoners who raised the issue before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

The BuCor previously implemented the strip and cavity searches due to the rise of contrabands being smuggled into the NBP.

Corrections Chief Insp. Eduardo Gogorza, acting director of the BuCor’s Directorate for Security and Operations, said the scanning process for every person takes only less than one minute when using the body scanner.

“‘Pag ho may anomaly makikita ho nung artificial intelligence pupulahan na ho. So magiging madali na sa mga personnel namin ano po ‘yung hahanapin at saang lugar (Anomalies that the artificial intelligence finds will be marked in red. So it becomes easy for personnel in conducting the search and where to find an item),” he explained.

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