A LONGSTANDING plan to transfer the Quezon City jail is now turning into a reality after the city government acquired last week a 3.4-hectare property in Barangay Payatas as the proposed new jail site.
On April 22, Mayor Herbert Bautista signed the deed of absolute sale acquiring the property from private firm M.S. Florendo and Sons Inc. for nearly P137 million.
The transfer of the jail from Barangay (village) Kamuning to Payatas has long been planned by the city government to decongest the present detention facility, the city government said in a press statement.
The land acquisition was made possible by a city ordinance, passed on Aug. 11 last year, allowing Bautista to enter into an agreement to purchase the Payatas property.
“The existing Quezon City jail located in Barangay Kamuning is already too congested and could no longer accommodate additional correctional facilities or buildings for expansion,” the ordinance penned by Councilor Alexis Herrera read.
It added: “The [current] location of the existing city jail has been surpassed and overwhelmed by the development of the area, and [is] therefore considered to be strategically inconvenient and disadvantageous to its neighboring communities and to Quezon City.”
The property in Payatas is “the most qualified site for the relocation of the existing city jail, specifically in terms of location and land area,” the ordinance read.
To date, the Quezon City jail holds 2,993 male detainees. Earlier, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP)-Metro Manila spokesperson Insp. Aris Villaester told the Inquirer the jail only has a capacity of 800 detainees.
6,600 inmates
BJMP real property division chief Senior Insp. Alberto Mariano said the Payatas jail facility will be composed of two five-storey buildings that can accommodate 6,600 detainees.
Bautista also requested the BJMP to consider transferring the women’s jail facility to the Payatas site. The number of female detainees at the Quezon City female dormitory, currently located at the city police headquarters in Camp Karingal, has reached 595, though Villaester earlier said the dormitory only has a 56-person capacity.
However, the P200-million budget for the construction of the new city jail will have to be requested anew, as the earlier allocation in the BJMP 2012 budget has already reverted due to the delay, Mariano said.
Bautista clarified only 2.4 hectares of the Payatas property would be utilized as a jail site, as the city government is also planning to put up a 1-hectare barangay community center in the acquired property next year.