Police are investigating the death of a Bureau of Corrections officer who was found with a gunshot wound in the head inside the security compound of the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City early Thursday morning.
Corrections Officer 1 Edmond Molina was found dead at Post Tower 4, Medium Security Compound of NBP in Barangay Poblacion around 5 a.m.
Molina’s fellow officer Bryl Racal was conducting his routine inspection at the time when he saw the lifeless victim lying on a folding bed at the medium security compound. The victim was holding a government issued firearm .45-cal Norinco loaded with five bullets when found.
Responding policemen also recovered one extra magazine with eight bullets of caliber 45.
“Further investigation revealed that the victim sustained a lone gunshot wound on the right portion of his head. It was also noted that the victim was still holding his issued firearm on his right hand in between his legs,” a spot report released by the Southern Police District said.
Racal told investigators that prior to his death, the victim rendered duty from July 6 7 a.m. to July 20 at 7 a.m..
Police are now reviewing footage taken by the closed-circuit television camera at the compound to find clues of the victim’s death.
Molina’s case was the latest in the series of deaths involving BuCor personnel.
In February, two men gunned down the chief legal officer of the bureau while he was about to pick up his daughter from Southernside Montessori School along Katihan Street, also in Barangay Poblacion.
Personnel of the Muntinlupa City Rescue Team rushed victim Fredrick Anthony Santos to a hospital but he was pronounced dead on arrival due to gunshot wounds in the head.
Santos was about to fetch his daughter at the school on board a Toyota Hilux pick-up when two armed men appeared and shot him at point blank range.
In 2019, Santos was one of the BuCor officials who were placed under the custody of the Senate after senators cited them in contempt for “lying” repeatedly during the probe into anomalies in the New Bilibid Prison.
Santos was also suspended for six months without pay by the Office of the Ombudsman after finding that he, along with 29 other officials of the bureau, “allowed the questionable release of prison convicts” in violation of the expanded Good Conduct Time Allowance under the Revised Penal Code.
Senator Panfilo Lacson had also accused Santos of using illegal drugs with Chinese drug lords detained at the national penitentiary.
At least three other BuCor officials have been killed since September 2018, with the police saying it was investigating the possible connection of the killings with the release of hundreds of heinous crime convicts for good conduct.
In August last year, a lone gunman shot and killed 53-year old Ruperto Traya Jr., a chief administrative officer 3 assigned at B-New Bilibid Prison, at a parking lot near Amparo Street, also in Barangay Poblacion.
Traya was about to park his motorcycle when a gunman onboard a motorcycle appeared and shot him in the head.
