THE Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) yesterday said 500 prisoners transferred from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City arrived Sunday morning at the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan.
The transfer is part of government efforts to decongest the national penitentiary prior to its planned closure in 2028.
BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said the Bilibid prisoners “safely arrived” in Iwahig.
The group left the national penitentiary on April 12 escorted by 147 correction officers headed by Corrections Inspector Roberto Butawan, together with an augmentation team from the Muntinlupa City police and the Highway Patrol Group.
The latest transferees included 150 inmates from the NBP’s maximum security compound, 150 from the medium security, and 200 from the Reception and Diagnostic Center.
Prior to this, BuCor has already relocated 2, 248 Bilibid inmates to the Iwahig jail in Palawan, the Leyte Regional Prison, the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro, and the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City.
Catapang earlier said the transfer of the Bilibid inmates is a “stop-gap” measure in alleviating overcrowding in the national penitentiary while the agency is waiting for funding for the construction of regional correctional facilities as part of its medium and long-term development and modernization plan.
The NBP and the BuCor’s six other operating prison and penal farms hold over 50,000 inmates, although their total capacity is only around 12,000, or an average congestion rate of 310 percent.
