CAMP CRAME JAIL READIED FOR PORK BARREL ‘SCAMMERS”

by Nadia Trinidad, ABS-CBN News

Posted at 06/06/2014 8:04 PM | Updated as of 06/06/2014 10:03 PM

MANILA – The Philippine National Police (PNP) is preparing its custodial center in Camp Crame, where the senators and several others charged for plunder could be detained.

These days, one cannot just walk up the street that leads to the Camp Crame custodial center.

Police officers manning traffic in the area could not explain why the road was closed. They only said they were given orders not to let anyone through.

The prison complex itself is newly renovated.

It’s now ready for its newest batch of very important jailbirds — lawmakers facing plunder charges in connection with the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Secured by a 6-meter-high wall and barbed wires, one would have to go through an iron door to enter the premises.

The small windows all have prison railings.

What looks like a modest studio apartment awaits inside.

ABS-CBN sources said each room is about 20 to 30 square meters.

It has a coat of fresh white paint, a single bed, its own restroom, but has no air conditioning.

Also ready for occupancy is another building in the prison complex that used to detain high-profile detainees like Rizal Alih and Lintang Bedol.

It is said that Janet Lim Napoles’s co-accused in the plunder case may be kept here.

It has 8 detention cells and can house 16 detainees.

It may not be much, but advocates believe it’s still considered special treatment for those accused of embezzling government billions of pesos.

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said senators facing plunder charges should be jailed in ordinary cells, along with other inmates. – with ANC

(Photo credit: This Philippine Daily Inquirer photo shows the whistleblowers who opened the pork barrel scam that led to the indictment of three sitting senators.)