Legal aid desk for inmates opens right inside Bilibid

Starting Monday, a public lawyer will be posted at the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City to help inmates in need of assistance for their pending appeals and other legal concerns.

The designation of a lawyer from the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) and a staff member at the Bureau of Correction’s (BuCor) PAO substation was approved in a memorandum signed Thursday by Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, Acting BuCor Director Franklin Bucayu and PAO chief Persida Rueda-Acosta.

Bucayu said the new service was deemed necessary because many inmates do not fully understand the nature or status of their cases. He noted that 47 percent of the 38,500 inmates in jails nationwide had studied only up to grade school. He said the BuCor would be able to monitor the status of their cases in the next few months with the full computerization of the case records.

ccording to Acosta, PAO will also assist the BuCor in identifying inmates already due for release either because they have served their sentence or have shown good conduct. It will also look for “overstaying” inmates.—Christine O. Avendaño