Part of Bilibid eyed as version of New York's Central Park
A version of New York's Central Park at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City?
"This might just happen as this is one of the proposals being considered when the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) finally shuts down the NBP by 2028,” said Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr.
New York's Central Park "is a world-famous public park, created beginning in 1858 to address the recreational needs of the rapidly growing city," Wikipedia says.
Catapang said that Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla wanted the 100-hectare lot of the more than 350 hectares of NBP as an open park while the remaining hectares will be used for a government center south of Metro Manila."
At the moment, Catapang said that “plans are still being finalized.”
He said that BuCor has allowed the use of the Bilibid’s sunken garden as the training ground for the Football Club Bilibid (FCB) which is “a team composed of underprivileged children and children of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs).”
“It is an outreach program of King of the Blues (KOB) which is made up of classmates from the Ateneo De Manila from batch ‘67 Grade School, ‘71 High School and ‘75 College,” he also said.
BuCor has already started this year transferring NBP's PDLs to other prison facilities..
Last June 27, more than 500 PDLs from the NBP and the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City were transferred to the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm (IPPF) in Palawan.
Another group of 500 PDLs were transferred last August to the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm (SPPF) in Occidental Mindoro.
Last Nov. 6, more than 500 PDLs from NBP and CIW were transferred to the Davao Prison and Panel Farm (DPPF) in Davao del Norte.