ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Still no increase in inmates' daily food, medicine allowances--DOJ

Still no increase in inmates' daily food, medicine allowances--DOJ

Published Aug 23, 2023 11:40 am

At A Glance

  • The daily food and medicine allowances of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) are unchanged in the P5.768-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2024, despite efforts from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to increase them. 

Mentally ill man held for stealing vehicle in Nueva Vizcaya

(Unsplash)

The daily food and medicine allowances of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) are unchanged in the P5.768-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2024, despite efforts from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to increase them.

This was learned by solons during the House Committee on Appropriations' discussion on the DOJ's proposed budget for 2024.

As per the DOJ, the inmates' or PDLs' food allowance remains at P70 a day, while their medicine allowance is also unchanged at P15 a day.

"Last year po kinuwestyon ko na ito pero hanggang ngayon P70 pa rin. Ang ano na ng inflation, pero bakit kaya [hindi tumaas]. Ano bang inirekomenda nyo sa DBM (Department of Budget and Management)?” ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro asked during the DOJ contingent during the hearing.

(I questioned this last year but up to now it's still P70. Inflation has been high, why is there no increase. What did you recommend to DBM?)

DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin "Boying" Remulla said the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), an attached agency of the department, had asked for a P100 subsistence allowance and a P30 medicine allowance.

“Ngunit hindi ito ibinigay sa amin at marami hong hindi talaga ibinigay ang DBM na kailangang kailangan po ng DOJ (But the DBM didn't give this to us, as well as many other things that the DOJ really need)," Remulla said.

As an example, he said the congestion rate at BuCor stands at a whopping 383 percent.

Ang hinihingi namin po para maayos ‘to ay P23 billion para magpagawa ng bagong piitan at para ma-decongest po natin ang mga tao ngunit wala hong ibinigay sa amin na ganitong pondo ang gobyerno,” he added.

(We're asking P23 billion for the construction of a new jail in order to attain decongestion but the government gave us no such funds.)

A DBM representative to the budget hearing, Mary Ann dela Vega, confirmed that the food and medicine allowance of PDLs will same the same next year.

“They are also the same with the other PDLs with the BJMP (Bureau of Jail Management and Penology). So the reason why it was maintained is because [of] the impact...[It] would amount to almost P3 billion. So the decision during the budget deliberation was to maintain the levels,” Dela Vega explained.

Dela Vega also urged the panel to take into account the P150 subsistence allowance provided to uniformed personnel when considering an increase in the allowance for PDLs.

Related Tags

Department of Justice Jesus Crispin boying remulla allowances persons deprived of liberty
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.