FROM how it looks, the government is hell-bent on pushing through with the stalled plan to enter into a joint venture agreement (JVA) with the private sector for the purpose of redeveloping more or less 300-hectare New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) facility in Muntinlupa City.
In fact, the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) admitted commencing the transfer of inmates serving jail time at the NBP, raising suspicion of the administration trying to continue what former BuCor director Gerald Bantag did during his stint at the bureau.
Published news reports (not in OpinYon Metro) claimed that over a thousand inmates from both the NBP facility in Muntinlupa City and the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City have already been shipped to Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan, the Davao Prison and Penal Farm and the CIW facility in Mindanao.
According to BUCor director-general Gregorio Catapang, the NBP facility is extremely congested.
Not Legally Bound
Interestingly, no less than Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla in November year said that the JVA that Bantag sealed with a private contractor was not within legal bounds – unless it has secured the approval of the Department of Finance, the Department of Justice and the President himself.
“Privatization has to go through the council. It has to go through the Department of Finance. It has to be approved by the secretary of justice, it has to be approved by the President. Marami approval process ‘yan,” Remulla explained.
Before he went into hiding after being implicated as mastermind in the killing of hard-hitting radio commentator Percy Lapid, Bantag signed a JVA with the Nueva Ecija-based ATOM Corporation for the donation of a 234-hectare property where the NBP could be relocated.
In exchange, Bantag then said, ATOM will develop the NBP reservation and BuCor will receive 35 percent of the earnings in the development.
Remulla flagged down the JVA which according to him was “done as an independent republic of BuCor dealing with the private sector.”
“Hindi niya sinama ang DOJ noon at tsaka hindi niya sinama ang Office of the President. Hindi niya sinama ang Department of Finance.”
Patrimonial Property
Under existing laws, the NBP reservation is classified as a patrimonial property of the Philippines, which means no government agency (not even BuCor for this matter) owns the land where the current NBP facility stands.
“Even the SOJ (secretary of justice) has no power over that. It has to go through the process,” said Remulla.
Ironically, the JVA was done in 2020 during the stint of former Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, whom President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed as Solicitor General when the latter took the helm of the Palace.
Remulla also pointed out that the BuCor Modernization Law cannot be used as the basis for the JVA. He said: The law “does not give plenary powers to anybody to dispose of government property. It has to go through a process.”
Guevarra admitted knowing about the JVA when he was still the DOJ chief – “I was made aware of it after the JVA had been signed by BuCor and ATOM. I sent a memo to DG Bantag telling him to hold off any further action until the DOJ had reviewed the proposed transaction.”
Most Populated Jail
In a previous statement, the bureau hinted at evenly distributing at least 7,500 inmates from the minimum and medium security compounds every year to various penal farms nationwide in preparation for the closure of the prisons facility in Muntinlupa City.
Also subject for closure is the CIW jail facility in Mandaluyong City by 2028.
Data from the BuCor showed that 51,134 are being held in seven prisons and penal farms nationwide. Of this number, almost 31,000 are confined at the NBP facility in Muntinlupa City.
Additionally, 4,150 prisoners are set to be transferred to the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in Davao del Norte by the end of this year.
Beating The Deadline
According to Catapang, the bureau would have completed the transfer of all NBP inmates by 2028, adding that it is no longer practical to maintain a detention center in its current location, where high-end residential subdivisions like Ayala Alabang are situated.
“Residents living around the NBP are understandably anxious. They fear that should a prisoner escape, their safety might be at risk,” Catapang disclosed during a public briefing.
The BuCor chief added that a significant 80% of the current NBP population will be moved to Iwahig, while the remainder will be sent to the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Mindoro.
He also cited the urgent need for transfers to address overcrowding at the NBP facility, and that it is difficult on their part to monitor the movement of more than 30,000 inmates with “a handful of jail personnel.”
He said that the current ratio stands at one NBP guard for every 27 hardened criminals – far from the 1:7 ideal guard-to-prisoner ratio for those confined at the maximum security compound.
As of the first half of 2023, NBP houses 30,701 prisoners, far exceeding its capacity for 6,345 inmates.
5,000 Deaths Yearly
In the latter part of 2019, then NBP Hospital chief Ernesto Tamayo in one of the Senate investigations on alleged irregularities at the penitentiary hinted at an alarmingly high mortality rate which he attributed to overcrowding.
According to Tamayo, around 20 percent of NBP inmates, or approximately 5,200 individuals, die every year due to overcrowding – “Minsan hindi natin ma-contain yung PTB... pulmonary tuberculosis,” he was quoted as saying.
At the onset of the pandemic, the mortality rate rose to 33 percent. Among those who were reported to have died of the coronavirus were foreign and local high-profile convicts.
Tamayo, later on clarified that the figure he divulged includes inmates who were killed in gang wars and many other forms of violence.
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