By Alexander Villafania
PASAY CITY, METRO MANIL A— Overcrowding of the decrepit National Bilibid Prison has compromised the health and safety regulations of prisoners, lawmakers said.
Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said he is proposing to build more regional jails to accommodate prisoners from different provinces. He noted that the 400-hectare National Penitentiary is already overpopulated by over 200 percent. For every jail warden, there are 81 prisoners to handle.
He also stressed that prisoners are also at risk from diseases in the poor conditions of the prison. In particular, communicable diseases have also plagued prisoners who are packed in small quarters.
Lack of funding has also led to lax security which allowed certain prisoners to freely roam the premises at their discretion. Sotto was referring to the recent jaunts of inmate and former Batangas Governor Antonio Leviste.
Sotto stressed that these problems have led to preferential treatment by state penitentiary officers of moneyed inmates such as Leviste. These have also caught the attention of other prisoners who are not being given their due treatment while in jail.
Sotto, who had earlier proposed building regional prisons for drug offenders, said that having prison facilities in the provinces will decongest Bilibid and also allow for more direct management of captured criminals within their respective localities.
“It is about time to consider alternative solutions since most programs are now tainted with mismanagement and corruption,” Sotto said.
“Once the regional jails are created, then the government can consider selling the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa. The sale of which can be used for programs for inmates nationwide,” he added.
Mirroring Sotto's call for better penitentiary system, Quezon Representative Danilo Suarez and Ilocos Norte Representative Rodolfo Fariñas filed proposals to overhaul the prison system by privatizing the Bilibid Prison and having the proceeds of the sale be used to put up new prison facilities in the National Capital Region, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Suarez stressed on the fact that many of the prisoners at the Bilibid are from provinces. About 75 percent of prisoners at the state prison are from Luzon provinces.
Likewise, Fariñas said that when sold, the property where the Bilibid once stood could be redeveloped into a residential and commercial space.
