Iloilo prisoners’ protest a ‘microcosm’ of ugly PH jail conditions

MANILA, Philippines—“Gutom kami. Layas, warden (We’re hungry. Resign, warden).”

This was the call of over 100 inmates who clambered on top of the roof of the Iloilo District Jail at the village of Nanga in Pototan town, Iloilo province to protest what they said was lack and poor quality of food.

The protest, which lasted for eight hours, prompted the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Western Visayas to relieve the detention facility’s chief, Jail Senior Inspector Norberto Miciano Jr.

READ: Inmates’ protest prompts relief of jail warden

Jail Chief Superintendent Clint Russel Tangeres, the director of BJMP Western Visayas, said that “for us to conduct an investigation thoroughly, we have to remove him so as not to influence [the investigation].”

Aside from protesting the lack and poor quality of food, the detainees also complained about the alleged refusal by jail authorities to let in food sent by inmates’ relatives and the “overpriced” food being sold by a cooperative inside the jail.

RELATED STORY: DILG orders probe after Iloilo jail inmates’ protest

Prisoners’ rights group Kapatid said the condition of the inmates in Pototan, Iloilo is a “microcosm” of jail conditions nationwide, stressing that “hunger is a reality in jails across the Philippines and it is not because of lack of food, but because of oppressive jail policies.”

It said it will seek a dialogue with the BJMP to call attention to “oppressive policies that drive hunger in jails and to review the system of jail cooperatives that is part of the problem and thus cannot be the solution.”

Right to food

Fides Lim, spokesperson of Kapatid, said the government should investigate the “worsening” prison conditions in the Philippines that contravene the United Nations (UN) Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

Rule 22 of the UN Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners states that “every prisoner shall be provided by the prison administration at the usual hours with food of nutritional value adequate for health and strength […] well-prepared and served.”

The provision of basic needs is likewise listed as one of BJMP’s core programs as “all PDL (persons deprived of liberty, jargon for prisoners) in custody are provided with three meals—breakfast, lunch and dinner” and that an “adequate supply of potable water is made available to them at all times.”

Based on a memorandum issued by the BJMP in 2020, the menu for “regular diet” in jails should meet the daily minimum nutritional requirements. Here are sample dishes based on that memorandum:

Breakfast

• Chicken lomi with vegetables (576.2 kcal.)
• Nilaras na mais (484 kcal.)
• Creamy sopas (303.4 kcal.)
• Sotanghon with chayote soup (573.3 kcal.)
• Tilapia, vegetable okoy and a cup of rice (698.6 kcal.)
• Minatamis na saging with sago (511.8 kcal.)
• Eggplant and corned beef torta and a cup of rice (447 kcal.)

Lunch

• Adobong talong with tokwa and a cup of rice (544.6 kcal.)
• Chicken curry and a cup of rice (456.6 kcal.)
• Ginataang papaya with shredded chicken and a cup of rice (924.6 kcal.)
• Sinigang na manok and a cup of rice (399 kcal.)
• Pinakbet and a cup of rice (501 kcal.)
• Chicken tinola with malunggay and a cup of rice (742.6 kcal.)
• Ginisang repolyo and baguio beans with chopped chicken breast and a cup of rice (366.8 kcal.)

Dinner

• Vegetable sardines with misua and a cup of rice (466.4 kcal.)
• Ginisang monggo with tinapa and a cup of rice (664.6 kcal.)
• Instant noodles with vegetables and egg and a cup of rice (616.8 kcal.)
• Tokwa steak and a cup of rice (788.2 kcal.)
• Sinabawang gulay with galunggong and a cup of rice (490.2 kcal.)
• Ginisang toge and a cup of rice (443.4 kcal.)
• Ginisang pechay at tokwa and a cup of rice (613 kcal.)

As of 2021, there are a total of 174,881 prisoners in the Philippines—129,283 are under BJMP custody while 45,598 are kept inside Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) facilities.

Reality inside

While BJMP Western Visayas spokesperson Jairus Dogelio said that the protest was triggered by the initial transfer of 44 detainees, who were considered as “high-risk, high-profile, or high-value” and that all are given enough food, the lack and poor quality of food has been the reality in most jails in the Philippines.

This, even if the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had said that if anyone in any form of detention is deprived of adequate food, it can be considered “torture or inhuman and degrading treatment.”

READ: Treating detainees humanely in the pandemic

Based on data from the BJMP, each inmate has a P70 subsistence allowance—P25 for breakfast, P25 for lunch, and P20 for dinner.

However, the inmates in Pototan, Iloilo, as reported by the local news outlet Zarraga News Live Station, said there were times when they were served with only “squash that was boiled and salted.”

Back in 2019, a caterer who has been providing food for the prisoners at the Correctional Institute for Women, told the Senate that the BuCor has spent only P39 on food for every prisoner.

Godfrey Gamboa, who was a former inmate at the National Bilibid Prison, also told the Senate that because of the low meal budget, “we’re only fed with broth […] many prisoners die because we don’t get nourishment from what we eat.”

Dogelio stressed that before the protest, the BJMP Western Visayas did not receive any complaint.

Arbitrary restrictions

Lim likewise said that the BJMP and the BuCor should reverse the “many arbitrary restrictions on food that further drive hunger in jails.”

“Political prisoners are likewise victims of the same oppressive policies though they are well-known not to engage in drugs. We families of political prisoners also have to contend with arbitrary restrictions like transferring the contents of any sachet like coffee, milk or shampoo into a clear container and having the food we send stoked and mashed with sticks,” she said.

Lim said that her group has continuously engaged wardens and jail officers in dialogue to appeal for reason.

She stressed, however, that “no less than the BJMP leadership should take action as the wardens usually pass the blame onto them for the various restrictions on food items as well as on the most basic hygiene needs like soap and even sanitary napkins just because these are sold in jail cooperatives.”

According to her, Kapatid already held dialogues with the wardens of the Taguig City Jail-Female Dorm in Bicutan and the Manila City Jail-Female Dorm and are still following up action on their appeals.

“We in Kapatid call on the BJMP to instruct all jail authorities to allow the paabot (delivery) of both raw and uncooked food into jails. There is also no reason why drinking water should be restricted when clean water is hardly available inside jails,” she said.

“They must likewise allow PDLs (again, jargon for prisoners) to cook food without demanding questionable fees for cooking as they do for sleeping space and even receiving visitors.”

‘Coops’ in jails

The Zarraga News Live Station also reported a detainee saying that the cooperative inside the Iloilo jail was selling basic commodities at higher prices even if detainees’ money come from only their families outside.

Lim said that the operations of so-called cooperative stores in jails required immediate investigation because they are part of the problem and thus cannot be the solution.

“Families are not allowed to send food already sold in the coops but which sell these inside at higher prices,” she said.

“These coops are frontally manned by PDLs (jargon for prisoners) but who really owns, funds and profits from these coops which have become monopolies that leech on PDLs who are mostly poor?” Lim added.

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