THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday started a two-day special voter registration for inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.
Bureau of Corrections Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said there are 2,431 inmates at the national penitentiary who are eligible to participate in the special registration as their cases are still on appeal.
“Even if they are behind bars, unless convicted with finality, their constitutional right to suffrage must be upheld,” Catapang said.
Comelec’s Resolution No.9371 allows inmates to register and vote based on the following: Those confined in jail or those formally charged for any crime/s and awaiting/undergoing trial, those serving a sentence of imprisonment for less than one year, and those whose conviction of a crime involving disloyalty to the duly constituted government such as rebellion, sedition, violation of the firearms laws or any crime against national security or for any other crime is on appeal.
The BuCor was assisted by the Muntinlupa police in providing security arrangement to the Comelec personnel who conducted the special registration.
Meanwhile, Catapang said 500 more inmates from the NBP were transferred to San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm (SRPPF) Sunday night.
Of the said number, 200 are from the maximum security compound, 200 from the medium security compound, and 100 from the Reception and Diagnostic Center.
“Since January of this year, we have already transferred 5,770 persons deprived of liberty from NBP to various operating prisons and penal farms as part of our decongestion program and preparation for the closure of NBP by 2028,” Catapang said.
In the same period, 1,500 NBP inmates were transferred to the SRPPF.
Catapang has said that 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 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.
The national penitentiary holds 25,886 inmates, though its original capacity is only 6,000 capacity when it was built.
