Public attorneys’ budget hiked to decongest jails

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked Congress to increase the 2023 budget of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) to P5 billion, or more than P500 million than its P4.74-billion budget this year, in order to decongest the country’s notoriously overcrowded jails, according to Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla.

“I asked PAO chief Persida Acosta to look into the condition of the (persons deprived of liberty, or PDLs) nationwide. The reason the PAO budget is so big is because of its huge mission,” Remulla said at the hearing of the DOJ’s P26.68-billion 2023 budget.

The PAO’s 2023 proposed budget is P5 billion, higher than its P4.74-billion 2022 budget.

“I instructed the PAO to determine who among the PDLs are eligible for early release because congestion, among other things, is often caused by inefficiency. That’s why PAO will be there to look into the condition of every PDL in the jails.”

The justice secretary previously told lawmakers of his plan to set up separate minimum, medium and maximum security prisons to ease congestion at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

Commitment

Only deputy minority leader and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro asked questions of the DOJ and secured a commitment from Remulla to look into the decongestion of jails and prisons nationwide.

According to Remulla: “This is one concern that we are not neglecting, the congestion in BJMP (Bureau of Jail Management and Penology) jails. I have been telling the DOJ family that while the (Bureau of Corrections) is directly under us and the BJMP is under the (Department of the Interior and Local Government), every PDL is covered by the DOJ.”

During the hearing of the committee headed by Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman asked that the panel dispense with interpellations on the DOJ budget and that questions be fielded when the DOJ budget is presented during the plenary debate.

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