BALANGA CITY – Inmates at the Bataan Provincial Jail on Saturday afternoon held noise barrage for still unknown reason.
Relatives of the prisoners and even local mediamen were barred from entering the jail.
Personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology set up checkpoints at the Bataan capitol compound some meters away from the main gate of the Bataan jail.
Talks circulated around that leaders of the inmates were allegedly hurt by guards of BJMP, creating panic among the wives and other relatives of the prisoners.
Five inmates were allegedly brought out of the jail and brought to an unknown place.
While the noise barrage was ongoing, women using stones also banged the back gate of the provincial jail.
“Araw ng dalaw kung Sabado, bakit ayaw kaming papasukin. At gusto lang naming makatiyak na hindi binugbog ang asawa namin tulad ng bali-balita,” Minda Magpantay said.
Magpantay’s husband has been in jail for eight years but his drug case is still pending in court.
Magpantay said she heard that her husband was one of those hurt.
She said that they were not advised beforehand that they could not see their loved ones on Saturday.
As of Sunday, relatives of the inmates milled around the capitol compound. They were still not allowed to go inside the jail.
Local mediamen tried but failed to get any comment from the jail warden.
The provincial government has been managing the Bataan Provincial Jail for years. Gov. Enrique Garcia even constructed a building with wide prison cells complete with comfort rooms until BJMP took over sometime last week of September this year.
Some prison guards said that BJMP officials were inspecting the jail so outsiders were not permitted to go inside. Many vehicles marked BJMP coming from areas outside Bataan were seen parked nearby.
As of April 2010, there are 906 inmates, 75 of them women, at the provincial jail. Dancing inmates here hit national prominence when the Kapuso network showed them on television.
Relatives of the prisoners and even local mediamen were barred from entering the jail.
Personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology set up checkpoints at the Bataan capitol compound some meters away from the main gate of the Bataan jail.
Talks circulated around that leaders of the inmates were allegedly hurt by guards of BJMP, creating panic among the wives and other relatives of the prisoners.
Five inmates were allegedly brought out of the jail and brought to an unknown place.
While the noise barrage was ongoing, women using stones also banged the back gate of the provincial jail.
“Araw ng dalaw kung Sabado, bakit ayaw kaming papasukin. At gusto lang naming makatiyak na hindi binugbog ang asawa namin tulad ng bali-balita,” Minda Magpantay said.
Magpantay’s husband has been in jail for eight years but his drug case is still pending in court.
Magpantay said she heard that her husband was one of those hurt.
She said that they were not advised beforehand that they could not see their loved ones on Saturday.
As of Sunday, relatives of the inmates milled around the capitol compound. They were still not allowed to go inside the jail.
Local mediamen tried but failed to get any comment from the jail warden.
The provincial government has been managing the Bataan Provincial Jail for years. Gov. Enrique Garcia even constructed a building with wide prison cells complete with comfort rooms until BJMP took over sometime last week of September this year.
Some prison guards said that BJMP officials were inspecting the jail so outsiders were not permitted to go inside. Many vehicles marked BJMP coming from areas outside Bataan were seen parked nearby.
As of April 2010, there are 906 inmates, 75 of them women, at the provincial jail. Dancing inmates here hit national prominence when the Kapuso network showed them on television.
