Ridding prisons in Cebu of all contraband

Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Debold Sinas said that they are working in coordination with the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) and other jail facilities for the Joint Intel Project Cerberus.

The project is named after the mythical three-headed dog that guards Hades.

“The first head is our joint coordination for the internal cleansing both with the PNP and their personnel. We conducted regular drug tests. Second, we are trying to neutralize contacts sa loob (inside), that’s why we have regular greyhounds similar in Mandaue and provincial jail where their guards were not informed. And the third head is smart policing, where we are trying to seek support to install high-tech jammers to prevent the coordination of drug transactions inside jails through cellular phones,” Sinas said.

The regional director said that with the confiscation of almost 200 cellphones from CPDRC inmates through greyhound operations, communication with the outside world should be minimized.

“Kung mapugngan namo tong ilang tawag sa cellphone, dili kaayo paspas ang movement sa drugs so we are trying to find some funds for the jammers (If we can prevent them from calling on their cellphones, this should affect the movement of drugs. That’s why we are trying to find funds for the jammers,” Sinas said in Cebuano.

In a related development, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 said that the CPDRC should require inmates to have proper storage for their medicines.

Several tablets that were seized during a surprise greyhound operation last Friday morning were thought to be Ecstacy. But after these were tested at the laboratory, the tablets turned out to be regular medicines.

“There are no party drugs in the provincial jail. It just so happened that some of the tablets did not have proper containers like tubes or blister packs. That’s why we seized them. The tablets also came in different colors like Ecstacy. That’s why we were forced to have them checked at the laboratory,” said PDEA 7 Director Wardley Getalla in Tagalog.

The tablets were over-thecounter drugs, he said.

But even though the results tested negative, Getalla said they are open to the possibility that some party drugs have been smuggled into the facility.

In an earlier report, Dr. Wilson Anthony Egos of the provincial clinic said the seized tablets consisted of vitamins, antibiotics and hypertension medicines, among others.

Rey Valmoria, CPDRC warden, said that it was good news that the tablets were not Ecstacy.

“I will discuss with our doctor to put labels on the medicines’ storage,” he said.

However, he said that the inmates’ visitation rights remain suspended since 21 sachets of suspected shabu were confiscated during last Friday’s greyhound operation.

Aside from shabu, also seized were 190 marijuana sticks, 191 cellphones, an improvised electric stove, pocket wi-fis, tobacco, drug paraphernalia, syringes, lighters and P80,000 in cash.

Valmoria cited Rule 4, Section 4 of the CPDRC manual, which states that the inmates’ visitation rights can be suspended as long as there is basis like the discovery of contraband. /