Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva said on Monday, November 7 that the Senate is mulling whether or not to conduct an in-depth hearing on the possible reform of the country’s prison system.
Villanueva said that overhauling the prison system should be the goal if the Senate would consider investigating the criminal schemes behind the murder of radio broadcaster Percival "Percy Lapid" Mabasa.
This, as Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III expressed grave concern over the alleged conspiracy between Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officials and influential inmates at the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City that supposedly led to the ambush of Mabasa.
"Hindi na nakakatawa yan (That is no longer a joke)," Villanueva said.
Villanueva said they are already talking to Senator Ronald ‘’Bato’’ Dela Rosa, who heads the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs "so we can all work together for a possible hearing on this issue, with the aim of crafting meaningful legislation to reform our prison system."
He revealed that he has already read a Senate resolution seeking a probe on the current prison system and that this has been referred to Dela Rosa’s committee.