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| Congressman Loses Prison Perks |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 03/10/2003 |
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Philippine officials, bowing to public pressure, have removed a congressman jailed for rape from fairly luxurious quarters in the national prison and put him in the company of hundreds of other convicts. Reporters were allowed into the maximum security compound of the national penitentiary Thursday and shown the vacated quarters of Congressman Romeo Jalosjos for the first time. A color television set had been packed away but vestiges of a comfortable life remain - a soft bed in one room, paintings on the walls, a kitchen with shelves stacked with food and a tiled bathroom equipped with a water heater. A treadmill stood outside the room. Officers have padlocked a food kiosk which Jalosjos had built to sell hamburgers, hot dogs and spaghetti to fellow prisoners. But a tennis court he had renovated using his own money still echoed with the sound of prisoners playing a set or two. The tennis court was open to all prisoners but some, Jalosjos said, pay monthly dues for its upkeep. Jalosjos was sentenced in 1997 to 173 years in jail for the statutory rape of an 11-year-old girl. Newspaper reports say that Jalosjos was living separately and in style compared to the penitentiary's 7,000 other inmates. The Justice Department later ordered him transferred to a regular prison dormitory. The accusation of VIP treatment to me and many others is wrong. Whatever we have now is due all prisoners except that our government cannot provide it,'' Jalosjos said. Jalosjos, who is appealing his prison conviction, was re-elected last year to a three-year term as member of Congress. Since his case is still on appeal, the law allows him to keep his seat, propose laws and receive visits from constituents. Opposition senator Miriam Santiago Friday called for the passage of "a No Frills Prison Act'' so that prisons '(will) not be converted into resorts, hotels or sports clubs.'' |
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