Noy OKs Bilibid’s transfer to Nueva Ecija

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino has approved the transfer of the New Bilibid Prisons and other prison facilities in Luzon to a P50-billion correctional facility in Laur, Nueva Ecija.

The approval came more than two months before Aquino’s term ends on June 30.

In a speech here late Wednesday, the President said he was initially reluctant to approve the public-private partnership (PPP) agreement as this might be construed as a “midnight deal,” but decided nonetheless to sign it to lessen his successor’s burden.

The contract may be awarded on June 29, the eve of his last day in office.

The NBP – which is supervised by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) – has been criticized for overcrowding and for some of its prisoners managing to smuggle in deadly weapons, drugs and electronic gadgets with the help of unscrupulous prison guards.

BuCor manages seven prison facilities across the country, including the NBP in Muntinlupa City, the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong and the penal farms in Davao, Occidental Mindoro and Palawan.

The construction of the Laur facility, which will house convicts from across Luzon, is part of the regionalization and upgrading of the country’s prison system, wherein the government aims to provide a reformative environment for convicts.

The construction of the proposed new correctional facility is expected to be completed within three years and will pave the way for the removal of prisoners from Metro Manila.

Former justice secretary Leila de Lima announced the NBP project in December 2014, during the launch of the implementing rules and regulations of the Bureau of Corrections Act of 2013, which seeks to modernize the country’s corrections system.

De Lima said the justice department and the BuCor are working together with the Department of Finance and the PPP Center to finalize the transfer of the NBP.

The government plans to sell the 300-hectare NBP property, which will be converted for commercial purposes.

There are plans, though, to retain 50 to 70 hectares of the site for the establishment of facilities such as the BuCor Correctional Academy and the Department of Justice Academy for the training of corrections officers, investigation agents and prosecutors.

De Lima said other prison facilities would also be improved under the BuCor modernization program, with the aim of bringing the country’s prisons at par with international standards.

The NBP has underground tunnels that existed even before World War II. According to former NBP superintendent Venancio Tesoro, the prison was once a Japanese sentry outpost and garrison.

In his blog, www.philippineprisons.com, he said the Japanese Imperial Army had prisoners of war construct more tunnels, where several secret crevices were made beneath the prison camp.

There are proposals to make the tunnels a tourist attraction, similar to what was done with the Malinta Tunnel in Corregidor.