MANILA, Philippines – You don’t want to stop drug trade inside Bilibid? Then eat your cellphones or be ready to rot in dungeons or die on sinking ships.
These were the warnings issued by President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday, July 12, against inmates of the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) after Department of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II’s announcement of the resurgence of the narcotics business inside the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City.
Duterte said the use of mobiles phones inside the high-risk prison made it possible for inmates, mostly Chinese nationals, to again trade illegal drugs.
“Ito lang kasi capital…‘Pag nakapasok ang cellphone negosyo talaga [This is the only capital…When cellphones get in, there will be business for sure],” he said.
As the President urged officials and personnel of the Bureau of Jail and Management Penology to address drug trade inside prisons during the celebration of the BJMP’s 26th anniversary at Camp Crame in Quezon City, Duterte assailed groups criticizing his administration’s alleged human rights abuses and said that he would put an end to the drug trade via cellphone inside NBP by having inmates eat the mobile phones they use in their transactions.
“I don’t know if it’s edible, maybe the plastic. ‘Pag may nakita pa ako…‘pag may nakita akong plastic d’yan, ‘yon ang kakainin mo sa araw na ‘yan. Wala kang konsumong kanin. Ito. Kaya prituhin mo o inun-unan. Bahala ka, basta you will eat it,” the President said.
[If I still see a plastic there, that’s what you will eat that day. You won’t eat rice but this (cellphone). You can fry it or cook and simmer it in vinegar. It’s up to you, but you will eat it for sure.]
Also, Duterte said he could solve the drug trade inside NBP if he would buy ships and put the inmates on the vessels that would sail between Peru and the Philippines before killing the prisoners by sinking the ships.
“Ngayon ito, tapusin natin ito sa panahon ko, cellphone. Nag-iisip pa ako kagabi kung…‘Yong Gothong Lines, marami ‘yang barko…Bilihin ko na lang. I-insure ko. Ilipat ko na lang ang Muntinlupa diyan. Tapos, guyurin ko diyan sa gitna ng Peru at Pilipinas, diyan mag-converge ang ano — butasan ko. ‘Tang in* kayo, ba-bye.”
[We will finish this drug trade inside prison via cellphone during my term. I was thinking last night if…Gothong Lines has many ships…I will just buy them. I will have the ships insured. I will just transfer Muntinlupa there. Then I will drag the vessels between Peru and the Philippines where they would converge and then I will make holes in the vessels. Sons of bitches, goodbye.]
The President said he could also leave life buoys for the prisoners but he would pierce the life rings to make sure the inmates would still end up dead.
“Iwanan ko sila ng salbabida pero butasan ko rin.”
He said that while human rights groups would again brand his acts as inhuman, his responsibility is primarily to protect the rights of humans and not the rights of cruel individuals whom he considers as no longer human because of their inhuman acts.
“Itong mga human rights magsabi, ‘Inhuman, inhuman.’ I have to protect the humans before I can even think of doing what for the inhuman,” Duterte said.
“Ipareho ko doon sa biktima nila? Sasabihin mo na, ‘In a democracy ganon’? That’s bullshit. Hindi ako maniwala d’yan [I will treat them like their victims? You will say that in a democracy it’s like that? That’s bullshit. I don’t believe in that],” he added.
Also, the President warned that he would have Bilibid inmates linked to drugs rot in dungeons.
“At tsaka itong ano, huwag kayong maniwala diyan sa human rights. ‘Yong panahon na ano kasi mapipilitan talaga tayong mag-gano’n — i-bartolina mo. Huwag kang maniwala na bawal ‘yang bartolina,” he said.
[Don’t believe in human rights. We will be forced to put them in dungeons. Don’t believe that putting them in dungeons is illegal.]
“The only thing that we have to do is cut them off from the rest of the world. So i-bartolina n’yo [So put them in dungeons],” he said.
“Kung may magpunta doon, human rights, sabihin mo, ‘Yan ang sabi ni Duterte.’ ‘Pag mag-yawyaw, p*tang i*a, ipasok mo siya doon,” added Duterte.
[If someone from a human rights group goes there, tell that person, ‘That’s what Duterte said.’ If that person complains, mother fuc*er, then also put that person in the dungeon.] -with reports from Camille A. Aguinaldo, InterAksyon
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