Seven hundred jail guards at the maximum-security compound of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City were relieved of their posts and directed to undergo retraining for one month. Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. said that after retraining, the guards will be deployed to various prison facilities of the bureau. “You will undergo retraining and you will be assigned to other prison and penal farms,” Catapang told the guards. “So, I ask your cooperation. Up to now I am not seeing any improvement on the manner you handle the maximum prison compound,” he pointed out. He said that Dr. Raymund E. Narag, a known criminal justice expert, will be one of those who will conduct the retraining. Also, Corrections Senior Inspector Purificacion P. Hari was installed as new head of the maximum-security compound.  She replaced Chief Inspector Lucio C. Guevarra. Catapang said that the 300 jail guards are enough replacement for the 700 relieved guards considering that closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras have been installed. “Ang mas kailangan ko na tao sa field e. Imagine 16 regional prison and penal farms. Kailangan ko mag-distribute diyan ng mga tao (I need more personnel in the field. We will be putting up 16 regional prison and penal farms. I need to distribute personnel),” he pointed out. As part of measures against corrupt practices, Catapang said he will have prison guards wear uniforms without pockets. “Henceforth, ‘yung mga uniform ng magpopost walang bulsa, walang pocket, walang lahat para wala na kayong isisiksik, wala na kayo itatabing cellphone (the uniforms of those who will be posted will have no pockets so they could not put anything including mobile phones),” he said. At the same time, he said the 300 newly assigned prison guards will not have lockers. “Kasi doon na nagkakapalitan e. Imagine magpopost ang laman ng wallet ninyo hundreds of thousands. Ano purpose nung dami ninyong perang dala? ‘Di ba dapat wala na kayong dalang pera ‘pag nagpost kayo kasi wala naman kayo bibilhin diyan, magbabantay lang kayo (That’s where the exchanges happen. Imagine you will go on duty but your wallet contains hundreds of thousands of pesos. What’s your purpose having so much money? You’re supposed to be not carrying such large amounts when on duty because you will not be buying anything, you will just be guarding),” he explained. On CCTV cameras, Catapang said the gadgets will keep a close watch of not only the persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) but also of the prison guards. He said that BuCor will provide body cameras to prison guards.  He said that BuCor had purchased 76 units with built in global positioning system (GPS) that can track the location of prison guards and show if they are in their assigned posts. Prison guards will not be allowed to turn off their body cameras, he said.  If they do, he said, he will be alerted that the guard is not on duty. He then disclosed that not all the 700 relieved guards have been doing their work. “Hindi naman nagduduty lahat iyon, nasa bahay lang tapos may pumipirma ng attendance nila (Not all of them go to their posts, they are just at home during work hours and someone else just signs the attendance sheets on their behalf),” he said. He also said that there were between 30 to 50 on duty prison guards at the maximum-security compound who were once caught loitering the NBP’s agro-industrial park. Some of the guards, he said, even sabotaged some of the CCTV cameras. “Ang ginawa binabaligtad para hindi na namin makita ‘yung ginagawa nila (They skewed the angle of the camera so we can’t see what they are doing),” he said. He also said that administrative and criminal charges will be filed against those who violate BuCor’s regulations.