Daughter of political prisoner subjected to ‘inhumane’ strip search at Metro Manila Jail

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – A daughter of a political prisoner has filed a formal complaint with the Commission on Human Rights after being subjected to a strip search by jail guards at the Metro Manila District Jail 4 (MMDJ-4), Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City. The incident occurred during a visit on January 5, when the guards required her and her aunt to sign a waiver before the search, despite never being asked to do so during previous visits.

Accompanied by Kapatid, a support group for political prisoners, the complainant, identified as Cath (real name withheld), described the experience as traumatic and discriminatory. The group said this is the second time to happen at MMDJ-4 since 2023 and the third complaint in two years, following similar incidents at the New Bilibid Prison.

Read: ‘Dehumanizing and traumatic’ | Kin of political prisoners assail strip search
Read: Daughter of political prisoner assails ‘inhumane’ strip search during jail visit
Read: Wife of political prisoner decries inhumane treatment

The group assailed what they described as the “disturbing pattern of abuse” involving strip searches at the MMDJ-4 and called for an independent, impartial investigation and accountability of jail officers for violation of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners as well as the the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology’s (BJMP) search protocols.

‘Inhumane’

According to Cath’s affidavit, at 12:40 p.m. last Sunday, after the inspection of the food items for her father and logging in their names and getting their photo taken, a certain JO1 Bonifacio instructed one of the searchers to bring out a waiver and have them signed by Cath and her aunt.

Surprised, Cath immediately asked what they were being asked to sign, and said that they were visiting a political detainee and had never been asked to sign a waiver in her previous visits.

Cath said JO1 Bonifacio responded, “’Walang political, political dito. Noon pa man ay inii-strip search na kayo.”

(There are no favors for political prisoners here. Since then we have been strip searching visitors.)

“The searchers called Deputy Warden Cagurungan. I insisted that we were only bringing food and some art supplies and that I had already visited my father just last December 24 and many times without being required to sign a waiver,” she added.

Cath asked why only she and her aunt were given a waiver while her husband and her brother, who are also visiting with them, were allowed in without signing a waiver.

“The guards replied that only women are subjected to a strip search because, according to them, women are better at hiding contraband than men. As part of my work promoting gender equality, I saw this as discrimination, an abuse of power, and an infringement on women’s rights,” Cath said.

“They didn’t offer us any options about what would happen if we refused to sign or if there was another way if we didn’t want to sign the waiver,” she noted.

Cath added that she was further pressured when the deputy warden said that even Sharon Cabusao Silva, wife of detained National Democratic Front of the Philippines peace consultant, Adel Silva, went through a strip search. Silva is the brigada head of the political prisoner’s wing.

“According to JO1 Bonifacio, they feared we might complain so she also showed a picture from her phone of the wife of another political prisoner whom she claimed also underwent strip search,” Cath said.

“Feeling we were being pressured, and due to my strong desire to immediately see my father as we were running out of time to visit my mother in another jail, we reluctantly signed the waiver. But we added ‘UP’ (under protest) at the bottom of our signatures to indicate our objection,” Cath added.

“I was led into a cubicle with a mirror…The female searcher told me to lift my T-shirt. I was wearing breast pads as I am a nursing mother. Then, she asked me to lower my pants and underwear, bend over, and spread my buttocks so she could check in the mirror,” Cath said.

She noted the searcher did not have a nameplate or an ID for identification.

“I was trembling from stress, as if I was having high blood pressure. The back of my head ached from anger. I was nearly in tears as I followed her instructions. I kept thinking, Hindi pa ba sapat na kinulong ang mga magulang ko dahil sa gawa-gawang mga kaso at kailangan pa apak-apakan ang aming pagkatao?” Cath said.

(Is it not enough that they jailed my parents on trumped up charges that they had to trample on my dignity?)

Other female visitors did not sign waiver, consent strip search

Cath saw Sharon at the visiting area after the search and asked if she signed a waiver. Sharon denied it.

The wife of another political prisoner, whose photo was shown to Cath, also denied signing a waiver and consenting to a strip search.

In a statement, Fides Lim, Kapatid spokesperson and wife of political prisoner Vicente Ladlad, said that it is disturbing that “jails officers should make up lies and single out visitors of political prisoners to pressure them into signing waivers that have become an instrument of coercion,”

Ladlad is also detained at the MMDJ-4.

“The abuse Cath endured, particularly as a first-time nursing mother still recovering from postpartum depression, is not an isolated incident. Her affidavit reveals a pattern of systemic abuse and gross lack of education and training among jail authorities, who failed to follow the BJMP’s own rule that strip search should only be conducted when necessary, and that the most invasive, degrading, traumatic body cavity search only when there is probable cause after a strip search,” Lim added.

She stressed that the families of the political prisoners subject themselves to body frisking and physical inspection of items they bring in, mostly food. “We understand the rationale for search procedures but which must be carried out with clear justification, proportionality, and adherence to legal standards, including the BJMP’s own ‘Standard Operating Procedures No. 05-10 on the Conduct of Body Searches on Jail Visitors,'” Lim said.

A strip search requires the removal of clothing and underwear, while a body cavity search is the more intrusive procedure that examines the genital areas for contraband items such as illegal drugs.

Kapatid urged the CHR to investigate what they described as humiliating and dehumanizing practices, which, they said, “distract from the real issue of how illegal drugs proliferate inside jails.”

“The drug trade inside jails certainly doesn’t originate from body openings of female visitors. Jail authorities who coerce visitors into signing blanket waivers must be held accountable to ensure that such violations are not normalized and that all visitors are treated with respect and dignity,” Lim said. (RTS, RVO)