Lawmaker suggests NBP privatization

MANILA, Philippines—A lawmaker on Wednesday pushed for the privatization of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City and the construction of three regional prisons to address the issue of congestion in the national penitentiary.

Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said the proposal, which was endorsed by his colleagues in the opposition led by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, involved the offer of big tracts of lands to developers who would build bigger and stronger prisons.

Suarez estimated that the privatization would require at least 580 hectares of land.

He said part of the funding requirements for the building of the prisons could be met by the proposed sale of the sprawling NBP lot.

“Thinking that rehabilitation [of prisoners] in this kind of a situation is difficult, we might as well privatize the NBP. Right now, 75 percent of [the inmates there] are from Luzon. You can just imagine how many visitors there are every day,” Suarez said at a press conference.

He said the congestion at the NBP had given rise to security problems and anomalies such as the unauthorized trip out of the prison by ex-Gov. Antonio Leviste.

A proposal calling for the transfer of the NBP to Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, in an area being occupied by the Army was introduced in the previous Congress.

Charge Diokno

For his part, House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman said the minority bloc had filed a resolution seeking an investigation of the anomalies in the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

He said the inquiry would not just focus on the Leviste incident and the “sleep out” and “living out” privileges of inmates but also the illicit drug trade in the NBP.

Lagman also called on the government to file charges against resigned BuCor Director Ernesto Diokno if evidence warranted, instead of rewarding him with another government post.

“His resignation should not be an exemption from criminal liability,” Lagman said.