BuCor Denies Drone Escape Plot Involving South Korean Inmate

The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) on Thursday said drones are unlikely to facilitate escapes from its correctional facilities, which are designated no-fly zones and monitored by guards and closed-circuit television systems. "All our Operating Prison and Penal Farms are no-fly zones, and we have watchtowers manned 24/7 which immediately alert our guards if there will be attempts to escape through drones," BuCor Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang, Jr. said in a statement. Mr. Catapang said drones could also be detected through their noise and the CCTV systems installed throughout correctional facilities. The statement followed reports that a South Korean national had plotted to escape from a Philippine prison using a heavy-duty drone. Justice Undersecretary Ian Norman E. Dato said the 47-year-old foreigner had already been turned over to South Korean authorities in March and was no longer in Philippine custody. "The Department of Justice (DoJ) is confident that our Bureau of Corrections is fully equipped and prepared to prevent any such eventuality. And based on the statement from Director General Catapang, no such attempt has been discovered or made while the said Korean national was in its custody," Mr. Dato told a press briefing on Thursday. He added that the DoJ was not aware of any "known attempt or any discovered attempt" involving the South Korean national. The Korean national was sentenced in 2022 to 60 years in prison in the Philippines for the 2016 killing of three South Koreans. He was temporarily transferred to South Korea in March to face charges involving the alleged importation of methamphetamine. South Korean media reported that the inmate had planned to escape by strapping himself to a heavy-duty drone capable of carrying up to 75 kilograms. The plan was not carried out after footage of an associate testing the drone surfaced in Philippine media, according to the reports. — Mark Joseph M. Sanchez