THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) thumbed down the request of the Department of Justice (DOJ) for a P23 billion budget for new jail facilities and higher subsidy for inmates under the department’s proposed national budget for 2024.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, during the hearing of the House Committee on Appropriations on the DOJ’s proposed P34.5 billion budget, said the P23 billion extra funding requested by the agency included funding for its jail decongestion program.
Remulla said the congestion levels in prisons and penal facilities managed by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) is already at 383 percent.
He added the DOJ’s bid to increase to P100 daily the subsistence budget and P30 for medicines for each person deprived of liberty (PDL) was also affected by the DBM’s decision.
Remulla made the statements in response to Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT) who inquired why the daily food and medicine allowance for inmates remain at P85 each for 2024, the same amount provided under this year’s budget.
“Actually, maraming kailangan na kailangan ang DOJ na hindi binigay sa amin ng DBM (Actually, the DOJ really needs a lot of things that the DBM did not give us),” Remulla said.
In response to Remulla’s statements, Budget Assistant Secretary Mary Ann dela Vega said the government could not afford the increase in the food and medicine allowances of inmates in BuCor-run jail facilities because this would also mean increasing the same for PDLs under the management of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).
Dela Vega said increasing the subsistence allowance for PDLs would mean an additional expense of P3 billion for the government.
She also pointed out that the daily subsistence for the military and uniformed personnel (MUP) is only P150.
BUCOR BUDGET
BuCor chief Gregorio Catapang said the bureau needs an additional budget of around P1.5 billion to safely secure and strengthen the country’s correction service.
“We have submitted a letter addressed to the (House) Committee on Appropriations technical staff chief, Ms. Jocelyn G. Lim, (asking for) at least P1.5 billion in additional funding to do what must be done in various prison and penal farms nationwide in support and solidifying the Philippine Justice System and ensure public safety,” Catapang said in a statement.
He said that among the priority projects of the BuCor which are unfunded in the proposed 2024 national budget but are badly needed in the agency’s day to day operations include the acquisition of K9s amounting to P10 million to reduce use-of-force incidents and contrabands smuggling while serving as a general deterrent to unwanted behaviors in prison facilities, acquisition of advanced body-worn cameras (BWCs) worth P320.4 million, purchase of scanner machines in the amount of P812 million, additional CCTVs for surveillance in the amount of P154.6 million, and construction of a mess hall for PDLs amounting to P169.1 million.
Catapang said: “Our last prison and penal farm was built in Leyte in 1973 by former President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., the father of our President now, Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. Our lawmakers have seen with their own eyes the status of the New Bilibid Prison and the plight of our PDLs, not to mention the inadequacies and flaws that need to be fixed in BuCor.”
He stressed that the extra funding is necessary to improve security within the BuCor’s prison and penal farms.
The BuCor has recently been rocked by scandals, among them the discovery of bodies in septic tanks and graves inside the NBP and the escape of an inmate who was reported missing on July 15 but was rearrested recently in Angono, Rizal.
The inmate has claimed that he escaped by hiding under a garbage truck.
DOH TO APPEAL BUDGET
The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday said it would push for a review of its proposed budget allocation for 2024 and appeal for the restoration of the P10 billion slashed by Malacañang.
In a brief statement, the DOH said it is looking forward to the forthcoming budget deliberations in Congress. “The DOH recognizes the legislative process during this budget season and welcomes the opportunity for our legislators to review the priorities for health,” it said.
“We are collaborating with legislators to advocate for the budget of the Department of Health,” it added.
The DOH has a proposed P204 billion in the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP). This is 5 percent lower than its P215 billion appropriation in the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Combining it with the budget allocations for DOH-attached agencies and corporations, the health department said its overall budget allocation for 2024 stands at P311 billion, which marks a 4 percent decrease from the P322 billion allocated for the DOH in the 2023 GAA. — With Raymond Africa and Gerard Naval
