New Bilibid Prison is supposed to be one of the most secure prisons in the Philippines. But before dawn on October 9, 2020, violence erupted inside its maximum security compound, and two rival gangs turned the prison into a battlefield.
Most inmates were still sleeping when members of the Sputnik and Commando gangs began fighting in the east quadrant of the compound. The clash started in the early hours of the morning, when there were far fewer people around to see what was happening.
The violence was not over in a few minutes. It began at around 2:30 a.m. and continued until about 4 a.m., as the two groups battled inside the prison. By the time guards and response teams brought the situation under control, nine inmates were dead and seven others had been injured.
Seven of those killed were members of the Sputnik gang, while two belonged to the Commando gang. Authorities did not immediately know exactly what had caused the confrontation, and an investigation was ordered to determine what had started the violence.
The fact that the fight happened in the middle of the night made the incident even more disturbing. Prison officials said the gangs had apparently waited until the early hours before launching the confrontation, suggesting that investigators needed to determine whether something deeper had triggered the clash.
As the fighting spread, inmates were caught in the middle of the chaos. Some prisoners were reportedly awakened by the commotion, while stones and other objects were thrown around the area. Warring gang members grabbed whatever objects they could use as weapons.
Responding personnel eventually managed to contain the violence and bring the compound back under control. The inmates who were injured were taken to the prison hospital for treatment, while those suspected of taking part in the riot were placed in isolation as the investigation continued.
But the violence did not end with the nine deaths. In the days that followed, prison officials searched parts of New Bilibid Prison looking for weapons that could have been used by the gangs.
The searches uncovered more than 400 bladed and blunt weapons hidden inside two buildings. Authorities reported finding items including saws, hammers, crowbars and wooden rods. Some were hidden inside cells and temporary shelters, while others had reportedly been buried in the ground.
The discovery showed how difficult it was to control violence inside a prison where rival gangs had access to improvised weapons. Even after the deadly clash was over, the weapons remained a reminder that another confrontation could erupt again.
For the inmates inside New Bilibid Prison, the danger was not only the sentence that had brought them there. In the middle of the night, a fight between rival gangs had left nine people dead, seven wounded, and an entire prison forced to confront how quickly order could disappear.
