PUBLIC private partnership (PPP) is the best way forward for the establishment of a “super maximum” prison facility to house high-level offenders, such as big-time drug lords, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told senators during the hearing on the proposed 2024 budget of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“Meron ho kaming pinag-aaralan na PPP project sa super max. Sapagkat ang mahalaga po kasi sa supermax, wala hong makikialam masyado and probably the PPP project is the best way forward to do it (We are studying a PPP project for the super maximum jail facility. What is important here is to prevent interference and the PPP project is the best way forward to do it),” Remulla said when asked for an update on the department’s plan to transfer inmates at the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) to other jails and penal facilities.
Remulla said the PPP project can also cover the maintenance of the facility, pointing out that the main problems in prison management are “interference and corruption.”
“Ang malalaking druglords mahirap talaga kontrolin kaya gagawin natin ang lahat (Big-time drug lords are really difficult to control but we are doing everything),” he said.
Remulla said not all those who are convicted of heinous crimes will be detained in the supermax prison, but those convicted for drug trafficking and who continue their illegal activities even in detention will be given priority.
“We would likely recommend that high-level offenders or drug lords or those still able to continue their activities, unless they are kept in a facility that will prevent them from continuing their criminal activity,” he said.
Data from the Bureau of Corrections show that there are 27,538 heinous crime convicts (murder, drug trafficking, human trafficking, rape) out of the more than 52,000 convicts detained at the NBP and six other prison and penal colonies nationwide, namely, Davao Prison and Penal Farm, Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan, San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro, Leyte Regional Prison and the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City.
These prison facilities are all experiencing congestion problems.
Out of these prisoners, 19,777 are sentenced to reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment while 147, the death penalty, that are later converted to life term since capital punishment has been invalidated.
Remulla said aside from the construction of the supermax prison, the DOJ and the BuCor are working to establish regional prison facilities that can house 1,500 to 2, 000 prisoners as part of the over-all plan to eventually close the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City by 2028.
“When we have a mega-prison like the New Bilibid Prison and we don’t have enough guards, it is already the prisoners who control the scene. Sa totoo lang po sila na ang may control (They take control of the prison). Prison gangs control the show, so we have to build smaller jails like regional prisons so that we will remain in control,” Remulla said.
BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said they are fully supportive of Remulla’s plan and promised to prevent the repeat of the escape of an inmate from the NBP’s maximum security compound when they start transferring inmates to the new facility.
“We’ll do our best and I promise you na wala nang tatakas (no one can escape the prison anymore) as much as we are really closing down the New Bilibid Prison by 2028. Hopefully, ma-transfer na po silang lahat (we can transfer them all) to a better place but not in Muntinlupa,” Catapang told the Senate, referring to the escape last July of Bilibid inmate Michael Cataroja.
Catapang said the BuCor is doing its best to implement the law which mandates the establishment of separate facilities for heinous criminals and they will support the proposed PPP project if the government cannot fund it.
“Kung hindi po mapopondohan ng gobyerno itong paglipat at paggawa ng super max, mag PPP po tayo. Hihingi po tayo ng tulong sa private sector (If the government cannot fund the transfer and the establishment of a super max, we will pursue the PPP. We will ask the help of the private sector),” Catapang said.
“Sa batas po kasi under RA 10575 it allows us to put jail facility in all regions… meron pang isang batas, ang RA 11928 na nagsasabi na maglalagay tayo ng supermax sa Luzon, Visayas at Mindanao (RA 11928 says that we will put up a supermax in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao),” he added.
For Luzon, he said preliminary works are already being done for such a facility in Mindoro, referring to the BuCor facility in Sablayan, Oriental Mindoro.
In the United States, supermax prisons is a separate facility that is designed to house both inmates described as the most hardened criminals and those who cannot be controlled through any other means.
Earlier, Remulla said using part of the Sablayan Prison and Penal Colony (SPPC) as a site for the supermax facility is ideal given its size and location.
Established on September 27, 1954 by virtue of Proclamation No.72, SPPC has a total land area of 16, 190 hectares.
It is also the nearest penal colony to Metro Manila operated by BuCor. It is currently designed for minimum security inmates.
