The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) has no coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection among the 48,357 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) in its seven jail facilities in the country.
“Sa mga PDLs po wala po silang COVID-19 cases ngayon sa mga prison camps ng Bureau of Corrections (There are no COVID-19 cases among the PDLs of the BuCor camps),” said BuCor Deputy Director General Gabriel P. Chaclag during the Laging Handa briefing on Monday, Dec. 6.
Chaclag said there are only two COVID-19 infections among prison personnel but they have moderate symptoms.
“Ang meron lang ay dalawang personnel ang positive pero hindi naman po sila serious. Moderate ang kanilang symptoms (We have two personnel who tested positive for COVID-19 but are not serious. They have moderate symptoms),” he said.
Also, Chaclag said “mas mataas po ang rate ng vaccination ng mga PDLs kaysa sa aming mga personnel (PDLs have a higher rate of vaccination compared to bureau personnel),” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Chaclag expressed the bureau’s gratitude to the national government for the 30,000 vaccines recently received by the BuCor for its inmates.
“So, nagbigay po actually sa amin ng 30,000 doses para doon sa 15,000 na hindi pa nababakunahan (The vaccination center gave us 30,000 doses for the vaccination of 15,000 inmates),” he said.
“Ito ay na-course nila sa LGU kung saan sumasakop sa mga prison camps natin (The vaccines were coursed through the local government units that have jurisdictions over these BuCor camp),” he added.
Despite the high rate of vaccinations among PDLs, Chaclag said the bureau has yet to allow face-to-face visitations.
“Sa ngayon po sa guidance ng IATF doon tayo magbased ng informed decision (At the moment, the BuCor will base its decisions from the guidance of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases),” he said.
“Kung ano po yung sasabihin nila, dahil may umuusbong na bago na namang variant, ay tatalima po tayo (Because of the emerging COVID-19 variant called Omicron, we will follow what the IATF would say),” he stressed.