BuCor stops strip searches pending review

Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. on Friday ordered a stop to strip searches of visitors of persons deprived of liberty following the complaints of two women who visited their husbands at New Bilibid Prison in April. In a May 10 memorandum to all operating prison and penal farm superintendents, Catapang ordered “the immediate stoppage on the conduct of strip and cavity search” amid the ongoing review of the BuCor’s procedure and protocols.

The order, according to Catapang, will take effect until further notice.

Earlier this week, acting NBP Superintendent Ruben Formosa relieved seven BuCor guards of their duties pending an investigation of how they conducted body searches at the national penitentiary.

Relieved from their posts were Correction Officers 1 Karen Soriano, Kiera Iket, Odesa Etong, Ahmor Darasin, Guada Bello, Melowyne Tallongan and Angelique Domingo.

The BuCor said the guards were assigned to Formosa’s office pending the investigation of how they conducted the strip search on the two women who visited their husbands.

Degrading procedure

Fides Lim, spokesperson for Kapatid, a support group for families of political prisoners, said an investigation was needed, saying the searches were “outright violations of international and national laws.”

The two women who filed the complaint before the Commission on Human Rights in Quezon City on Monday said they were subjected to “degrading and traumatic” strip searches at the national penitentiary.

“I was made to squat three times and then bend over while opening my private parts to check for any hidden illegal items,” Gloria Almonte, 63, wife of political prisoner Dionisio Almonte said. “I felt shame during those moments … It felt like my dignity as a human being was being trampled upon,” Almonte said.