Managing Man Made Disaster: The Case of BJMP

Introduction Natural and man-made disasters have been a bane of Philippines economy. Manmade disasters such as fires; air, road and rail accidents; industrial accidents; strikes and civil commotion take a heavy toll of thousands of lives in the country every year. The vulnerability of Philippines population, especially the poor, to both natural and manmade disasters, has been increasing over time, with the increasing population

densities, unplanned growth, urbanization, industrialization and other factors such as global warming, greenhouse effect, social violence, terrorism, civil unrest and conflicts. Almost every day, newspapers publish stories of natural and man-made disasters and crises occurring in one part, or the other of the country, and television channels show scenes of mishaps and their effects on people. The effect of global warming on weather patterns may be also responsible for an apparent increase in the frequency and intensity of weather-related disasters. Weatherrelated disasters are impacting upon mankind with relentless frequency and intensity and have taken a heavy toll in recent years. While all areas of the world are affected by climate change and natural, weather-related or man-made disasters, it is the lesserdeveloped countries, which experience losses in human lives and economy disproportionate to their resources. Often, such major natural and man-made disasters result in complex humanitarian emergencies that seriously compromise the socioeconomic development in affected nations and regions of the globe, creating escalating demands on rapidly diminishing international resources. As member of the tri-bureau of DILG the BJMP take its part to help the society in regards of managing the manmade disaster inside the jail. Most cases encounter by the BJMP personnel are Noise barrage and Riot. And now the surging terrorism in our country also involves our inmates inside the jail, they are prone from radicalization by the terrorist group who also incarcerated in the jail. In this paper we identify the problems and causes of the disaster present in the BJMP jails. And we also identify the process to manage this problem. All the security programs of the BJMP are properly disseminated to different regions and all lower units. Discussion:

Problems Identification
1. Riot A wild turbulent disturbance created by a large number of people. Another definition of a prison riot is an act of concerted

defiance or disorder by a group of prisoners against the prison administrators, prison officers, or other groups of prisoners in attempt to force change or express a grievance. In the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) there are gangs or in layman term pangkat are existing inside the jail. These gangs have their different traditions and practices. With these differences, this is the cause of quarrel and it will result to riot in order to prove whose gang will stand still. In this case, those groups who lose will find right time to revenge. Therefore these disturbances will become a cycle and it will never end. Another cause of this disturbance is the improper management inside the jail. Most of the inmates complain the management of the jail warden that their rights have been deprived. In this issue, the group of inmates will initiate a riot against the personnel of the BJMP. This case of riot is not only happen in the Philippines but also happened in other countries like Venezuela, Yemen and United State.

2. Noise Barrage It is an act of a group of people making noise disturbance to demand something to the authority or head of agency. The difference between noise barrage and riot, that noise barrage has no violence unlike the case of riot. Most of the disaster occurred in the

Bureau of Jail Management and Penology is noise barrage. The groups of inmate unite to demand what they need or to react or oppose to the management of their warden. These happen when the rights of the inmates have been deprived.

3. Terrorism definition of terrorism is a form of political communication using violence to attack innocent in order to make political demands. This disaster is only happened in year 2005, specifically in Metro Manila District Jail in Bicutan, Taguig City. Twenty-six prisoners, three jail guards and a police officer were killed at the end of the failed jailbreak. Among those who died were Nadzmi Sabdulla (Commander Global), leader of the Sulu faction of the Abu Sayyaf; Alhamser Manalad Limbong (Commander Kosovo), said to have tortured and killed American national Guillermo Sobero and Catholic priest Rhoel Gallardo, whom they abducted with many others in Sumisip, Basilan in 2000; and Galib Andang (Commander Robot), chief of the unit that in 2000 kidnapped Western tourists on Sipadan Island in Malaysia and detained them in Sulu. The detainees had issued five demands: Speedy trial, Respect for their human rights, Security, Food and other needs, and Media projection. This case was the most basic example for the BJMP to prevent the terrorism inside the jail facility. Another

example of terrorism in May 2000, Abu Sayyaf kidnapped a group of 20 foreigners that included three Americans, Guillermo Sobero of Corono, California and Martin and Gracia Burnham, Christian missionaries from Wichita, Kansas. In June 2001, Abu Sayyaf announced that Abu Sabaya, who was holding Sobero, had beheaded him. In June 2002, the Philippine military launched a rescue mission based on American intelligence. Martin Burnham and a Filipino nurse, Ebidorah Yap, were killed, but Gracia Burnham was rescued.19 The three Americans were apparently held for ransom rather than for ideological or political reasons. The Bush Administration reportedly facilitated a $300 million ransom payment to ASG from the Burnham family. The couple was not released after the payment was made.

4. Insurgency - Is an armed political campaign by mass mobilization of a counter-state with which to challenge the state for political power. The surging will of CPP/NPA/NDF to overthrow the government and change it in the form of Communism. Part of their recruitment is to radicalize inmate inside the jail. Breaking down the number of

suspected member of NPA and other secessionist group they are 6% of the total jail population under of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP). Some members of the NPA captured are officers or in NPA term kadre. These officials are in charge in radicalizing the minds of innocent inmates with their goals to change the form of government into communism. They always emphasize that because of the corruption in our present government the poverty will not eradicate, the rich will always be rich and the poor will always be poor.

Solution
1. With the problems mention, the BJMP come up with a solution in order to prevent the riot and noise barrage. The BJMP release a memorandum to remove all gang affiliation inside the jail to prevent the disagreement and fight that will result to riot and noise barrage. The

Bureau of Jail Management and Penology National Headquarters (BJMP-NHQ) conduct seminars and workshop to all jail wardens in proper management of handling inmates. It tackles about the rights of inmates and their needs. It also discusses the rights of the different religion especially the muslim brothers present in the jail. Not only the Jail Wardens had a seminar, even the non-officer assigned in the different jails undergoes the said seminars and workshops. BJMP create the Special Tactics and Response (S.T.A.R.) Team. The function of STAR team is to response in all incident natural made or manmade incidents. This STAR team had undergone different trainings for them to response in different disasters. The entire STAR team member distributed in all regions. In addition to the function of STAR team is to provide security in transferring inmates in court or transfer to New Bilibid Prison (NBP). The number of rescue attempts, riots and noise barrage of inmates decrease since the STAR team was created compared to the time that there is no STAR team in BJMP.

2. The presence of terrorism and insurgency in our country makes the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) alarm and aware to the goals and purpose of the leftist movement. The BJMP create the Directorate for Intelligence in order to join the Intelligence Community of the Government together with the Armed Forces of the Philippines

(AFP), Philippine National Police (BFP) and other agencies fighting the terrorism and insurgency in our country. The BJMP coordinated with the other agency regarding the training of BJMP personnel in terms of handling intelligence information, analyzing data and conducting surveillance. The Philippine National Police (PNP) is open for the BJMP personnel to undergo Intelligence Officer Course for the officers and non-officers. The BJMP recently coordinated with the U.S. army to conduct a seminar workshop for the BJMP personnel in order to identify foreign and local terrorist presence in our jail facilities. With all these cooperation to other agencies the Jail facilities under the management of the BJMP can now considered a partly invulnerable for terrorism.

Reference: www.isite.ph www.abs-cbn.com.ph

www.wikipedia.com www.fas.org/irp/crs/RL32223.pdf