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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 'Department of Corrections' sought amid New Bilibid controversies

'Department of Corrections' sought amid New Bilibid controversies

Published Jul 31, 2023 05:25 am
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The appalling conditions inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) has convinced Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan to draft a measure that would create a "Department of Corrections". Yamsuan floated the idea for the new department during a recent House Committee on Justice briefing on the sorry state of the NBP and other jails in the country. Dr. Raymund Narag, a recognized international criminology expert and himself a former detainee, took part in the briefing. “Based on Dr. Narag’s extensive analyses, there appears to be no significant improvements at all in our penal facilities despite the passage of a law in 2013 that aims to strengthen and professionalize the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor),” Yamsuan said. According to Narag, the poor conditions in the penal system are the result of the overly high congestion rate in prisons, the lack of personnel and financial resources, and other structural deficits that breed corruption and irregular practices often tolerated by corrections officials. “Dr. Narag’s comprehensive briefing is a wake-up call for us in Congress to address once and for all the perennial problems that have long plagued  our penal facilities. The problems enumerated  by Dr. Narag are also the same problems that we in the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) have encountered in district, city and municipal jails nationwide and tried to find solutions to more than 10 years ago under then Secretary Ronnie Puno,” said Yamsuan, a former DILG assistant secretary. He said his office is now drafting the bill that aims to purpose this proposed Department of Corrections. Creating a line agency like the Department of Corrections will enable the government to introduce long-due reforms in its fragmented corrections and jail management systems and  work on improving the living conditions and rehabilitation programs of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), Yamsuan said. As per Yamsuan, the Philippines’ jail management system is disjointed. Its prison and penal facilities are under the BuCor of the Department of Justice (DOJ) while its district, city and municipal jails are under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) of the DILG. The provincial jails are under the supervision of the provincial governments. Yamsuan made the proposal even as the House Committee on Public Order and Safety, of which he is also a member, was set to conduct this week a motu proprio inquiry into the reported disappearance of an inmate and the discovery of mass graves inside the NBP’s maximum security compound. He said he will closely coordinate with DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla and DILG Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. to get their inputs on his proposed Department of Corrections.

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New Bilibid Prison Bicol Saro Party-list Brian Raymund Yamsuan
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