Forty-eight persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) have been transferred to the Leyte Regional Prison (LRP) in the continuing efforts of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to decongest the prison facility in Muntinlupa City.
BuCor Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. said the 48 PDLs arrived at the LRP in Abuyog, Leyte last Saturday, Jan. 20.
Those transferred included 23 PDLs at the Maximum Security Compound and 25 inmates at the Medium Security Compound, Catapang said.
“The continuing transfer of PDLs from NBP to other operating prison and penal farm outside of Metro Manila is part of our efforts to decongest the NBP and our preparation for the closure of the National penitentiary by 2028,” he said.
The closure of NBP is in preparation for the conversion of its vast landholdings in Muntinlupa City to a government center to generate income for BuCor.
Earlier, BuCor had said that as of last Dec. 7, 2023, a total of 2,009 PDLs from NBP and the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Muntinlupa City had been transferred to other penal farms.
Catapang said the transfer of the 48 PDLs was escorted by the NBP's Custodial Force and the bureau's Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit with the assistance of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).