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CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines—Sprawling and far from any congested urban setting, the military reservation at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija province appears to be an ideal relocation site for the the national penitentiary, said Armed Forces vice chief of staff Lieutenant General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr.
Catapang was here last week to turn over hundreds of chickens for the livelihood projects of retired and active soldiers. The ceremony was held at the Army’s 70th Infantry Battalion headquarters in Barangay Canantong in Laur town, Nueva Ecija.
The transfer of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) from Muntinlupa City could be done by yearend or early 2015, Catapang said.
“The President wants it done by the end of 2014,” he said, adding that the logistics required for a transfer is being worked out with other government agencies, such as the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).
Catapang said the transfer could be carried out as a public-private partnership project.
The Fort Magsaysay military reservation is in Palayan City that covers areas formerly belonging to Laur, Sta. Rosa, Gen. Tinio, and Gabaldon towns, all in Nueva Ecija. It extends up to the Dingalan Bay in Aurora province.
Earlier, Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan, who oversees the BuCor and NBP, said the government wanted to improve its prison facilities to meet international standards, and the transfer of the national penitentiary to Fort Magsaysay could be a step to achieve this.
Baraan said the facilities for a modern NBP may cost P40 billion. He said the 551-hectare NBP in Muntinlupa City, which opened in 1940, is congested with over 20,000 inmates. Its maximum security detention area houses 14,500 prisoners although it was designed to accommodate only 8,400 inmates.
Once the transfer is completed, the NBP in Muntinlupa could be transformed into a commercial district.
In 2006, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Executive Order No. 568 authorizing the transfer of the NBP to a 272-hectare reservation in Barangay Cuyambay in Tanay, Rizal province. But Tanay officials opposed the plan.
In May 2012, the Aquino administration began studying the option of relocating the NBP and the Correctional Institution for Women to Fort Magsaysay.
Some sites in Cuyapo and Talugtog towns in Nueva Ecija were also considered but the administration concluded that the 44,000-hectare military reservation at Fort Magsaysay was the most ideal place, the Inquirer learned.
Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino, Armed Forces chief General Emmanuel Bautista, and Catapang have identified the military reservation as one of five military camps that would host American facilities under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
The other sites are Subic Bay, Clark and Cubi Point in Central Luzon, Oyster Bay and Brooke’s Point in Palawan province, and Batanes province.
Officials said Fort Magsaysay was ideal due to its proximity to Dingalan Bay, which can be used for naval maneuvers.
Each year, the military reservation has been a venue for the joint military exercises of Philippine and United States troops.
At present, Fort Magsaysay hosts the headquarters of the Army’s 7th Infantry (Kaugnay) Division, the Special Forces Regiment and the Special Operations Command.
It also hosts the Aquino-Diokno Memorial Shrine to mark the place where the late Senators Benigno Aquino Jr. and Jose Diokno were placed under solitary confinement for one month during martial rule.
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