The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) backtracked on an earlier announcement temporarily suspending visitation at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) maximum security compound in Muntinlupa City from June 2 to 9.
STATEMENT
In a June 7 Facebook post, the BuCor, which manages and supervises the NBP and six other detention facilities in the country, said:
“Humihingi ng paumanhin at pang-unawa ang buong Kawanihan ng Koreksiyon sa naunang anunsiyo namin patungkol sa pansamantalang pagkansela ng dalaw sa New Bilibid Prison-Maximum Security Compound (NBP-MaxSeCom).
Ang dalaw po ay patuloy na isinasagawa sa patnubay ng mga nakatakdang araw at oras ng pagbisita sa loob ng NBP-MaxSeCom.”
(We apologize and ask for understanding about our previous announcement regarding the temporary suspension of visitations at New Bilibid Prison-Maximum Security Compound.
Visitations are ongoing during specified dates and times inside the NBP-MaxSeCom.)
Source: Bureau of Corrections, Humihingi ng paumanhin at pang-unawa ang buong Kawanihan ng Koreksiyon…, June 7, 2023
FACT
In a now-deleted Facebook post on June 4, BuCor announced that visitations at the NBP were temporarily suspended until June 9, without citing any reason.
Several news outlets quoted BuCor as saying, “Pansamantala pong kinakansela ang pagbisita sa Maximum Security Compound, New Bilibid Prison mula Hunyo 2-9, 2023.” (Visitations are temporarily suspended at the Maximum Security Compound, New Bilibid Prison from June 2 to 9.)
The June 7 clarification came after BuCor chief Gregorio Catapang Jr. told ABS-CBN TeleRadyo that such suspension is a “false alarm” resulting from misinterpretation by BuCor officials and visitors.
“Last week, 6 days straight ‘yung bisita nila. Tapos ngayong pagdating na ang Independence Day, mahabang bisita na naman para sa mga mag-aasawa, mga kamag-anak na nakakulong. Kaya baka na-misinterpret lang po ‘yung sinabi ng mga leader na magdahan-dahan sa pagbisita,” Catapang said.
(Last week, there were visits for 6 straight days and now that Independence Day is drawing near, there will be more long visits by spouses and relatives of detainees. Maybe BuCor leaders were just misinterpreted when they said to go slow with visitations.)
Catapang suspected that the false announcement may have been a personal attack on him by BuCor employees, but did not mention specifically who was behind it.
BuCor last suspended Bilibid visitations in May due to rising COVID-19 infections inside the prison.
