Bilibid is part of Philippine history. Its first construction plan was carried out on 12 September 1859, but due to bureaucratic complications and lack of funding, it was only on April 10, 1866 that it was built and named the Cárcel hi y Presidio Correcional with 1127 prisoners. It was first built on the former Mayhaligue Estate in central Manila, in Calle Azcarraga (now Recto).
Due to the strong earthquake of June 2, 1863, the ruins of Santa Cruz and Tondo were destroyed, and the construction of the Cárcel y Presidio Correcional was instantaneous. There are many anomalies involved in building the building here.
Due to corruption resulting from poor use of raw materials, artificial price increases, and non-compliance with the rules of construction of public buildings, the colonial government sued contractors who made the facilities Don Sixto Ojeda Ocampo and Don Diego Jimenez .
But due to the length of the hearing, the two contractors passed away before the verdict was dropped. The defendants were found guilty and helped to be detained. In fact, Don Juan Room was one of the first prisoners of the People, the architect and director of construction of the Individual building.
The Manila City Jail is now the Old Town built at the original location. Due to facility limitations and large numbers of prisoners, the National People's Movement moved to Muntinlipa before the outbreak of World War II. But contrary to common knowledge, individuals are not confined to criminals.
Many revolutionary and radical heroes are also advancing on Individuals. The Katipuneros who fought against the Spanish during the Revolution of 1896-98 were detained. Faustino Guillermo, Melchora Aquino, Guillermo Masangkay, and the entire leadership of the Republic of Elders Macario Sakay, Francisco Carreon, Lucio de Vega and Julian Montalan were among those who were trapped here during the struggle against the Americans.
Individuals were used to imprison Japanese combatants during the war. The People were also detained by some suspected anti-government and communist activists during MacCarthyism after World War II until the time of the martial law.
Although detrimental, Individuals also became a source of writing. Illustrated journalist Isabelo de los Reyes, wrote the memoir of the revolution Memorias sobre la revolucion while detained in Bilibid.
Amado Hernandez is said to have written parts of his novel Birds of Prey while also being detained in Bilibid. Some of the most popular writings on the experience of being tortured in Individuals are his poem The Twilight, The Red Day Out of the Window, and One Heaven - poems that reflect the attitude of a traumatized person because of their beliefs and beliefs.
Aside from the social status of political detainees within the Individual, it is also important to look at the health status of the Detainees. Cholera cases were first recorded in the 1905 epidemic of cholera, due to overcrowded bedrooms, dirty toilets, inadequate food and contaminated water, cholera spread more rapidly among the individuals in the population and more deaths occurred.
From Individuals, cholera has spread to many parts of the population outside of the penitentiary and has died from this disease. Became an Epilepsy of the Individual during the Influenza pandemic of 1918.
Nearly all of those who were detained at the Individual were ill during the pandemic. Of those who were reported to be ill in connection with respiratory complications, about half of them died. Of the total 2,674 cases of influenza, 1,897 were untreated in the dungeon hospital and had to be treated in their cells. Of all the government institutions with a high concentration of people (schools, military camps, bureaucracy, etc.), the Individual was the most affected by the Influenza pandemic of 1918.
The highest mortality rate was the highest. deaths among Influenza patients) and case morbidity (proportion of those who were sick compared to all other chronic diseases) within the Individual during the period. As the cholera epidemic occurred in 1905, influenza pandemics worsened in 1918 when the disease spread to the outskirts of and around Bilibid. Unfortunately, the proportion of sick and dying in prison is higher compared to the whole population.
Apart from being sick, it seems that guinea pigs are considered by some authorities to be detained in Bilibid. In 1904-05, the Bureau of Science under the leadership of Maximilian Herzog and several American scientists weighed the brains of the dead in the jail.
The purpose of the brain weight assessment is not only for medical conditions and health, but also to determine if brain weights reflect the importance of thinking in the captives in particular, and to the people of the archipelago, in general .
This experiment wants to prove by weight of the brain, to determine whether Filipinos can accept 'American civilization'. In the publication of Album of Philippine Types by Daniel Folkmar describing the physical appearance of various ethnic ethnolinguistic groups in the Philippines to be introduced in the Exposition of St. Louis in 1904, they used pictures of various Individual prisoners from different regions of the Philippines.
Several plaster casts were also used to determine the size and dimensions of the physical appearance of the Filipinos. This was done by stripping the captives and putting them in a plaster cast until their molds were created that would serve as a display of their appearance for inclusion in the Expo as a representation of the new population properties of the new American empire.
One of the most controversial medical experiments conducted with prisoners during the occupation was conducted by Richard Peason Strong, head of Biological Laboratory services in Manila. In an experiment carried out in 1906, he vaccinated 24 people with the cholera vaccine to determine if it was effective in suppressing the disease.
Unfortunately, vaccination has not been well established and has become a threat to plague organisms. 13 were killed in the experimental trials. There was widespread investigation into the controversial incident but Strong was acquitted of any negligence case.