‘Move Bilibid inmates to Army reservation’

A FORMER congressman yesterday urged Malacañang to decongest New Bilibid Prison (NBP) by transferring the minimum security compound to the Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation in Nueva Ecija.

At the Kapihan sa Diamond Hotel forum, former Nueva Ecija Representative Renato Diaz, now president of Bancommerce Investment Corp., said that around 300 to 500 hectares of the 33,000-ha Army reservation had yet to be developed.

According to him, inmates from the minimum security compound can be made to render community service by participating in watershed reforestation, farming and livelihood training. The prisoners will be under the guard of soldiers who can serve as an augmentation force for jail guards.

Diaz added that the transfer of the minimum security inmates could also help eradicate drug syndicates operating within the NBP as drug lords would be separated from their runners.

At the same time, he said that some of the prisoners in crowded city and provincial jails could be transferred to Tanay, Rizal, where the government has purchased a lot for the proposed new site of the national penitentiary.

Diaz suggested that a courthouse be established near the new prison facility so that trials could be held there, removing the need for inmates to be transported to court for hearings.

The former congressman said the recently exposed security lapses at the NBP following the arrest of former Batangas Governor Antonio Leviste outside the prison should serve as “a wake-up call” for the government.