JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla is eyeing the Sablayan penal farm in Occidental Mindoro where heinous crime inmates at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City can be transferred.
Remulla said aside from decongesting the NBP, his plan will enable the Bureau of Correction to better watch inmates convicted of rape, murder, kidnapping for ransom, and drug trafficking, among others.
Remulla disclosed the plan during his visit last Monday at the national penitentiary where he met with BuCor Director General Gerard Bantag and other corrections officials.
Remulla said he visited Sablayan before he formally assumed the DOJ post last July 1.
“Even before I formally assumed the post of DOJ Secretary, I already looked at Sablayan since it is a place where people cannot visit often and will allow us to better watch over those who have been sentenced by the courts for the crimes they have committed,” Remulla said, adding: “Especially those involved in large-scale drug trafficking which wreaks havoc in our society.”
The NBP, the largest prison facility managed by the BuCor, houses 28,900 inmates, including more than 17,000 in its maximum security compound. Most of the high-profile convicts, including Chinese drug lords, are detained at Building 14 of the NBP.
Last January, the DOJ, under then secretary and now Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, said the BuCor created a task force to address the worsening congestion problem at the NBP, including reviving previous plans to transfer the facility to Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.
Then DOJ undersecretary Deo Marco said aside from relocating the national penitentiary to Nueva Ecija, the BuCor was also pushing for the “regionalization” of its facilities, meaning every region will have a penal colony.
The NBP, opened in 1940, was originally meant to house 10,000 inmates.
Aside from the NBP, the BuCor also operates six other penal colonies, namely, the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro; San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City, Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan, Leyte Regional Prison in Abuyog, Leyte; and the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in Davao del Norte.
A bill is also pending in Congress seeking to establish separate jail facilities in areas with high crime rates.
The BuCor, meanwhile, said it needs at least 60,000 personnel to man and secure the NBP and six other penal colonies.
Correctional Technical Supt. John Paul Santos said the number is the “overall ideal strength” the BuCor should have.
Santos said the BuCor presently has only 25 corrections inspectors and correction officers per 2,047 inmates or a ratio of 1:232 when the ideal figure should be 1 is to 24.
Santos said there should be one correction officer for every seven inmates but the current figure is 1 to 35.
Overall, the BuCor has 4, 239 corrections officers and 389 corrections technical officers.
Santos said the BuCor is recruiting additional personnel to improve the personnel to inmate ratio under Republic Act 10575 or the BuCor Modernization Act.
