BuCor eyes women’s prison relocation to Bllibid

MANILA, Philippines — Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Director General Gerald Bantag is eyeing to transfer the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) currently in Mandaluyong City to a site within the already overcrowded New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

The BuCor said a meeting was convened recently on the possible move of the CIW, proposing to allot a 28-hectare (ha) land area for the new site of CIW at the remaining land of NBP reservation in Barangay Poblacion, Muntinlupa City.

The current CIW sits on a 15-ha land in the middle of Mandaluyong’s residential area. As of June 2020 records from BuCor, CIW currently houses 3,416 inmates — more than thrice its ideal capacity of 1,008.

Another 584 women prisoners are at the CIW in Davao, which has a congestion rate of 472 percent, the highest among BuCor facilities.

—Dexter Cabalza