BuCor needs P22.3 billion for modernization program

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Corrections needs at least P22.3 billion to jumpstart its modernization, regionalization and restructuring to decongest its detention facilities, BuCor director general Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. said yesterday.

Catapang said the fund will kick off the goal of modernizing the bureau to achieve world-class standards.

Although a total amount of P77.7 billion is needed from 2023 to 2028 for the construction of new facilities and rehabilitation of existing prison and penal farms, the P22.3-billion start-up fund will go a long way, he said in a statement.

Earlier, Catapang said they plan to close down by 2028 the bureau’s primary detention facility, the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, and transfer the NBP’s 30,000 inmates to other detention facilities.

Under the proposed BuCor development and modernization plan, Catapang said the bureau will establish additional regional prison facilities in Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Bicol, Central Visayas, Soccsksargen, Caraga, Cordillera Administrative Region and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

To be able to do this and decongest BuCor’s seven regional prison and penal farms, Catapang said they will reconfigure the prison cells into three categories.

The first category is for high-risk offenders, who will be kept in a cell that can accommodate only two inmates and requires greater degrees of security, control and supervision.

Medium-risk detainees will be kept in a prison cell with a capacity for eight to 10 persons while the third category is for low-risk inmates who will be housed in cells for 15 to 20 persons.