The items that the inmates turned over to the Bureau of Corrections also included laptops, gambling materials, cigarettes, and around 7,500 cans of beer. 

Each can of beer is smuggled into the national penitentiary's Maximum Security Compound for P1,000, said BuCor officer-in-charge Gregorio Catapang Jr., citing information from inmates.

"First time na nakapasok ng ganyan karami. Parang nag-deliver ng truck," Catapang said.

(This is the first time that that amount of contraband slipped past Bilibid. It appears a truck delivered them.)

Catapang said several people were tagged in the deliveries. He said he could not disclose names since an investigation was underway.

He said said some officers will be relieved of their duties over the incident.

"Uunahin kong ireform ang mga tao ko. I want them to be responsive and responsible," he said. 

Catapang was designated as officer-in-charge after the suspension of BuCor chief Gerald Bantag to give way to an investigation into the death of a Bilibid inmate who allegedly served as middleman in the death of journalist Percival Mabasa, also known as Percy Lapid in his radio show.

The inmate Jun Villamor died hours after alleged gunman Joel Escorial told reporters he shot dead Mabasa on the order of someone from Bilibid. Escorial did not name the mastermind nor the motive in the killing, but he confirmed Villamor was a middleman in the murder plot.

A second, independent autopsy on Villamor recently concluded that he died from plastic bag suffocation. Traces of shabu were also found in his body.

Full story here: https://tinylinkurl.com/rEbao