200 Bilibid inmates moved to Leyte jail

Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. –Photo by Tetch Torres-Tupas

Two hundred inmates from New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City have been transferred to Leyte Regional Prison (LRP) as part of efforts to decongest the national penitentiary, Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) said on Friday.

The BuCor earlier said it would shut down the NBP by 2028 and convert it into a nature park similar to Central Park in New York City or to a one-stop shop for government services.

In a statement, BuCor said the inmates, escorted by corrections officers and members of the Special Weapons and Tactics teams, left the NBP on Feb. 6 and arrived in Leyte two days after.

BuCor director general Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. said the transferred inmates would help the LRP in its “Green Revolution program.”

According to Catapang, BuCor has been supporting the food security program of the government “by empowering its persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) to give back to the community by planting rice and vegetables.”

The BuCor said the agency has partnered with government agencies like the Department of Agriculture and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to use the idle lands of BuCor and allow PDLs “as institutional workers in agricultural business ventures.”

BuCor modernization

“We have laid down the foundation for the modernization of BuCor and we will see to it that this endeavor will result for the betterment of PDLs and BuCor as a whole to be relevant, sustainable and respected,” Catapang said.

The BuCor said that from June 2022 to Jan. 31 this year, it has transferred 3,259 PDLs to various regional jail facilities in the country such as the as the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan and the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro.

Catapang said in September last year that it was no longer practical to have the NBP in Muntinlupa City, citing that many first class subdivisions have been built around the area.

He admitted that the NBP was already overcrowded, citing that the guard to PDL ratio was already at 1:27, making it hard for BuCor to maintain a drug-free status at the national penitentiary.