Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday backed the proposals in Congress to decongest and modernize the Philippines’ prisons.
“The DOJ will support any and all bills aiming to decongest and modernize our prison facilities,” Guevarra said in a text message.
He said the construction of “state-of-the-art” prison facilities in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao would depend on the lawmakers because those facilities would need a budget allocation from Congress, considering that other sectors such as public works and education were being given priority.
“It is a question of legislative priority, given the competing claims of the more productive sectors like public works and education,” Guevarra said.
He said the funds needed for the construction of new prison facilities to house prisoners convicted of heinous crimes might come from the sale of portions of land owned by the New Bilibid Prison.
“A possible game changer is the privatization of the sellable portions of the NBP property, which could be the stand-alone funding source, but this is subject to a comprehensive legal audit and feasibility study, not to mention the political will to do it,” Guevarra said.
There are now seven prison facilities being guarded and run by the Bureau of Corrections.
Besides the NBP in Muntinlupa, there are the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City, Davao Prison and Penal Farm in Davao del Norte, Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan, San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro, and the Leyte Regional Prison in Southern Leyte.
Guevarra made the statement after the Senate Committees on Justice and Human Rights, Public Order and Dangerous Drugs and Finance filed Senate Bill 1055 seeking the creation of separate “state-of-the-art” facilities that would house people convicted of heinous crimes.
In the proposed bill, surveillance cameras, security systems capable of 24/7 monitoring of prisoners, and and extensive security features would also be installed in the facilities.
Guevarra will determine the location of the maximum penal facility that will be built in a secure and isolated area to ensure there will be no unwarranted contacts from outside the penal institution.
The proposal to build dedicated prison facilities to house those convicted of heinous crimes came on the heels of allegations of miscomputations of the Good Conduct Time Allowance that allegedly benefited 1,914 prisoners who were convicted of heinous crimes but were prematurely released.
