MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) donated yesterday new firearms, laptops and vehicles to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) facility in Payatas, Quezon City.
In his speech during the turnover of equipment at the New Quezon City Jail, DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos lauded jail officers as modern-day heroes.
“The DILG recognizes the dedication and hard work of jail officers who stand guard around the clock to look after the gates of our prisons, and lead inmates into a life of reformation,” Abalos said.
The DILG donated 2,541 9mm pistols, 688 laptops and 14 vehicles amounting to P110.6 million, according to BJMP chief Allan Iral.
The vehicles will help the jail facility improve its transportation of inmates during court hearings, Abalos said.
“The laptops will boost the facility’s administrative work as well as its assistance to inmates for online hearings,” he added.
Abalos vowed to improve the country’s jail facilities amid reports of congestion.
He cited the case of the San Mateo municipal jail male dormitory in Rizal, which was tagged by the Commission on Audit (COA) as the country’s most crowded detention facility with a 2,696 percent congestion rate, and where inmates have to sleep in shifts due to overcrowding.
“They need to be evacuated to higher ground because of flooding during inclement weather,” he said.
Abalos advised authorities to consider entering into usufruct agreements on lands for the construction of new jails to resolve congestion in existing detention facilities.
He disclosed that the BJMP’s P333.9 million capital outlay this year does not include funding for the construction of new jails.
The BJMP has an approved P21.348 billion budget in the 2022 General Appropriations Act.
Abalos said the congestion rate in BJMP jails dropped to 387 percent this year from 612 percent in 2017.
But in its 2021 report, the COA said 337 of the BJMP’s 474 jails are “heavily congested with occupancy rates ranging from 101 to 2,796 percent,” way above the United Nations’ minimum standards for the humane treatment of prisoners and the BJMP’s own manual for habitat and sanitation.
The number of inmates nationwide also increased to 125,247 in 2021 from 115,336 in 2020.