The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday (July 29) stopped all trial court judges from ordering the transfer of convicted persons from the detention cells of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to the jail facilities of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) in a move to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez said the directive, which should be enforced until Aug. 31, 2020, was issued on request of BuCor Director General Gerald Q. Bantag.
Last July 22, Bantag sent a letter to the SC requesting the suspension of the transfer of convicted persons from BJMP jails to BuCor facilities “to prevent the further contamination of COVID-19 among persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) and to minimize the movement of PDLs from BJMP to BuCor.”
In a previous press statement, Bantag had confirmed that 21 BuCor PDLs – one of them high-profile inmate Jaybee Niño Sebastian – have died of complications due to COVID-19.
Granting Bantag’s request, the SC – through the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) – directed all trial court judges to “temporarily suspend the issuance of commitment orders from BJMP jails to the BuCor until Aug. 31, 2020.”
“All convicted PDLs who should have otherwise been committed to the BuCor shall, in the meantime, remain and be committed in the BJMP jail units,” the circular containing the directive stated.
Last July 21, the SC ordered the detention of suspected criminal offenders in the facilities of the Philippine National Police (PNP) instead of incarcerating them in the BJMP jails.
Marquez said Local Government Secretary Eduardo M. Año had requested the SC “that the issuance of commitment orders (to the facilities of the BJMP be temporarily suspended… to prevent the further COVID-19 contamination among PDLs in all jail units nationwide.”
He also said that PNP Chief Director General Archie Francisco F. Gamboa, on the other hand, has issued an undertaking that “the PNP can, in the meantime, accommodate newly arrested PDLs.”
Thus, Marquez said all trial court judges have been directed “to issue commitment orders for newly arrested PDLs… until 31 August 2020, to the local PNP units, unless the local BJMP jail units are already able to admit newly arrested PDLs during this period.”
Published reports stated that there are more than 215,000 PDLs in 933 detention centers nationwide.
BuCor jails have more than 36,900 prisoners in seven penal colonies, while about 21,000 inmates are detained at the National Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City.