NBP transfer seen to generate jobs for Ecijanos

PALAYAN CITY, Philippines – The plan to transfer the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City to Nueva Ecija through the construction of a P50.2-billion regional prison facility is expected to generate more than 50,000 jobs for Novo Ecijanos, its proponents said yesterday.

In a presentation here, architect Armando Alli, adviser of the Public Private Partnership Center, said the two-story facility will be constructed under the build-transfer-maintain scheme on a 500-hectare land in Barangay Nazareth in Gen. Tinio town, inside the Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation.

The project was presented during a public hearing called by Gov. Aurelio Umali amid concerns over its environmental and socio-economic impact in the province.

The project will be a joint undertaking of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

Based on estimates, Alli said the project will require 40,000 workers, 4,800 custodial and rehabilitation officers, and 9,000 people for prison maintenance.

Umali said the national government should prioritize Novo Ecijanos for employment and source of construction materials.

He said Novo Ecijanos should carefully weigh the pros and cons of the project amid issues over its environmental impact in the adjoining communities.

Teodora Diaz, BuCor assistant director, said the new facility will have a maximum capacity of 26,000 prisoners.

She said they expect the project to be approved by the Investments Coordinating Committee of the National Economic and Development Authority within this month and by the NEDA Board of Directors next month.

The bidding has been set in February 2015, contract signing in April 2015, and actual construction will start in October 2015. Construction will take three years.     

To be transferred in the new facility are 20,000 inmates from the NBP and 2,000 from the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City. 

President Aquino earlier indicated that he wanted to have the NBP transferred to the Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation by yearend.

DOJ Undersecretary Francisco Baraan, which supervises the BuCor and the NBP, said the new facility will follow international standards.

He said at present, prison conditions in the various penal facilities in the country leave much to be desired, citing those in Muntinlupa, Palawan and Davao.

“I saw correctional facilities in Japan, Canada and Australia and our facilities pale in comparison,” he said, adding that the NBP, for one, does not look like a prison facility at all and being locked up there constitutes a “cruel and degrading punishment” to prisoners.

The 551-hectare NBP in Muntinlupa, which opened in 1940, is now heavily congested as it houses 14,500 prisoners in its maximum security detention area alone although it was designed to accommodate only 8,400. The NBP houses a total of 20,000 inmates.       

The government plans to convert the Muntinlupa penitentiary, valued at around P42 billion, into a mixed-use commercial area.