Lawmakers push for more penal facilities

MANILA, Philippines — Underscoring the “substandard and inadequate” conditions in penal facilities in the country, three lawmakers have filed a bill proposing the establishment of more jails nationwide.

In House Bill 8071, Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, Benguet Rep. Eric Yap and Anti-Crime and Terrorism Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) partylist Rep. Edvic Yap said the country is lacking detention facilities so the existing ones are jampacked with inmates.

Because of this, these jails do not meet even the minimum standard of the United Nations for detention facilities and the provisions in the 1987 Constitution, which “vehemently opposes the use of substandard or inadequate penal facilities under subhuman conditions.”

They noted there are only seven correctional facilities in the country which are under the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), namely: the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City; the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City; Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan; Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro; San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City; Leyte Regional Prison in Abuyog, Leyte and Davao Prison and Penal Farm in Panabo, Davao province.

“Notwithstanding these seven correction facilities spread across the country, congested prisons are still among the pertinent issues faced by the country’s justice system,” they added.

The bill cited the World Prison Brief, which named the Philippines “as ‘the most overcrowded prison system in the world’ with 215,000 prisoners overfilling the jails and prisons, more than five times the jail or prison’s official capacity.”

It also stated that the country’s jails are known for having inadequate food, poor nutrition and unsanitary conditions, citing the report of the Human Rights Watch.

The measure underscores that it is “due to this long-term neglect of the country’s prisoners that this bill seeks to establish and operate additional penal farms” nationwide.