DoJ nixes Congress proposal to privatize National Bilibid Prison

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice (DoJ) rejected the proposal from Congress to privatize the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), saying it will not help in reforming and rehabilitating the national penitentiary.

“I don’t think the problems [in the prison system] that we see now will be eradicated with the privatization of our prisons,” Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III said at a press conference Thursday.

Baraan is the head of the fact-finding group that conducted an inquiry on the reason why former Batangas governor Antonio Leviste sneaked out of prison without permission.

“Changing the cultural way of treating the prisoners might answer the country’s problem but not the privatization,” Baraan said.

The privatization of NBP, which was endorsed by the opposition in the Congress led by former president and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and proposed during the previous Congress, urged the government to transfer NBP to Fort Magsaysay and Nueva Ecija.

“If we will relocate the NBP from Muntinlupa to another location, we should have a state prison per region. We should have a big prison facility here in Metro Manila, “Baraan said.

He added that privatization of prison was not part of their recommendation.

Baraan said a technical working group would be created to undertake a thorough review of the prison system and recommend a comprehensive action plan to institutionalize the national penitentiary system.

The group will be composed of the DoJ and other government agencies, non-government organizations, civil and religious societies.

Meanwhile, Baraan said the panel investigating the Leviste case has been looking at all possibilities of anomalies in the incident.

He added that their committee has been studying the documents and reports from NBP and looking into the numbers of the prisoners, saying there might be other prisoners who had escaped from NBP.

“We will look into the reforms that will be put into place as a result of this Leviste incident,” Baraan said.

Carissa Caraig