MANILA – The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) on Wednesday acquired two high-tech full-body scanners that will eliminate the need for manual strip searches.
The first of their kind in the country, the two new Soter RS full-body scanners can detect any kind of contraband hidden within the human body.
BuCor Director General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. said the scanners can identify items ingested, hidden under clothing, or concealed inside a person’s private parts.
The new equipment will be installed at the entrance of the National Headquarters’ Administrative Building and at the Inmate Visiting Services Unit of the Maximum-Security Camp in New Bilibid Prison. This will eliminate the need for strip searches and manual cavity checks on visitors of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs).
“We plan to procure additional scanners for deployment across our prisons and penal farms nationwide,” Catapang added.
In May, BuCor chief Catapang discontinued strip and cavity searches on visitors of PDLs after receiving complaints from the wives of two prisoners, leading to a review of procedures in cooperation with the Commission on Human Rights.
He clarified that BuCor had implemented strip and cavity searches due to an uptick in visitors attempting to smuggle contraband into correctional facilities, such as cellphones, chargers, tobacco, and illicit drugs hidden in various body parts.
Meanwhile, Catapang said that BuCor is undertaking serious efforts to crack down on illegal drugs, following President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive for an intensified “bloodless drug war.”
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) earlier stated that about 200 high-profile inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City would be transferred to a new “maximum-security facility somewhere in the Philippines.”
This development followed a meeting on Tuesday afternoon, where Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Virgilio Lazo identified that the “number one source of the drug trade is apparently still inside the Muntinlupa jail.”
Catapang noted that 70 to 80 percent of the more than 52,000 PDLs nationwide are incarcerated due to drug-related cases.
Citing official reports, Catapang disclosed that from July 21, 2023, to October 12, 2024, a total of 1,806 PDLs were transferred from the NBP to the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Mindoro, including 170 Chinese nationals mostly linked to drug-related cases. (PNA)