Detainee’s wife decries strip-search at Bicutan jail

The wife of a political prisoner has denounced getting strip-searched by a jail officer at Camp Bagong Diwa on Sunday.

In a Facebook post, Nona Andaya-Castillo criticized the strip search supposedly ordered in a memorandum by new warden Jail Inspector Jojie Jonathan Pangan.

Castillo's husband Ferdinand Castillo is an activist detained at the Bicutan jail.

"I found myself staring at a mirror, naked. But this happened not inside the privacy of my home but under the scrutiny of a searcher in a small room at the Special Intensive Care Area (SICA) 1 at Camp Bagong Diwa," Castillo said in a Facebook post.

"I am a wife of a political prisoner, not a criminal! I vehemently protest this kind of treatment," she added.

Castillo said it was the first time that she experienced this treatment since she last visited her husband on April 11, 2017.

However, Castillo disclosed that her daughter was once ordered to "pull down her pants and to flip up her bra" during the inspection.

Sought for comment, warden Jail Chief Inspector Jojie Jonathan Pangan said the strip search was standard operating procedure after authorities confiscated 217 cellphones, internet dongles, tablets, drug paraphernalia, suspected improvised explosive devices in a raid on March 9.

"Kasama po dito ang napakaraming kubol na tinanngal at winasak na siyang pinagtataguan ng kontrabado sa loob," Pangan said.

"Maliban po dito ang atin pong mga dalaw ay binigyan ng kalayaan upang isumite ang kanilang sarili sa searching procedure, sila po ay binibigyan ng waiver form na kung saan nakasaad po dito na kanila pong pinapahihintulutan ang ating mga kasamahan na gawin ang nauukol na searching process," he added.

Pangan said jail officers continue to find contraband items such as cellphones and cigarettes in the private parts of strip-searched visitors and even detainees.

In her post, Castillo cited the policy of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) on conducting body searches on jail visitors, citing the portion that reads, “if during the pat/frisk/rub search the jail officer develops probable cause that contraband is being hidden by the subject, who is not likely to be discovered, the jail officer shall request for a conduct of strip search/visual body cavity search."

Castillo said that she and her daughter had no record of hiding any contraband items in their clothes.

"If any, there was once an incident that we forgot to remove and accidentally carried a cord of a phone charger inside our bags. There was no intent to hide it from the searchers," Castillo said.

Castillo also said she had to sign a waiver to see her husband, who, according to her, had heart disease and hypertension.

"If not for that, I will not allow anyone to do a strip search on myself. It does not only strip clothes, it also robs someone her dignity," Castillo said.

"If the BJMP officials are resolute in curbing the massive entry of contraband, how come their system fails to do so despite repeated frisking and strip search of other visitors in the past?" she added. —NB, GMA News