Only 474 or not even one percent of the more than 48,000 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) in seven prison facilities of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) nationwide have been vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
BuCor Deputy Director General Gabriel P. Chaclag also said the vaccinated PDLs were all senior citizens.
Of those vaccinated, 200 are detained at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City, 214 at the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm (SRPPF) in Zamboanga City, and 60 at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPPF) in Davao del Norte.
“Sa ibang prisons katulad ng NBP ay wala pa (The inmates in other facilities like the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City have not been vaccinated),” Chaclag lamented.
He also said that not all personnel in the prison facilities have been vaccinated.
He explained: “Dependent kasi tayo sa vaccination programs ng LGUs kung saan matatagpuan ang prison camp (We are dependent on the vaccination programs of LGUs, local government units, where the prison facilities are located).”
He then appealed to the LGUs to include PDLs and prisons personnel in their vaccination programs.
Aside from the NBP, CIW, SRPPF, and DPPF, BuCor’s other prison facilities are the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Puerto Princesa City, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro, and the Leyte Regional Prison in Abuyog, Leyte.
The government has admitted that the seven prison facilities managed and operated by BuCor are already congested. The congestion has posed a serious risk on the spread of the dreaded coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
BuCor has adopted several measures to contain the risks, Chaclag said.