A total of 459 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) had been transferred from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City to the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm (IPPF) in Palawan to augment the latter's need for manpower in its food security project.
Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. said the transferred PDLs arrived at IPPF in Puerto Princesa City last Saturday night, Feb. 17
“This brings to 1,254 the number of PDLs transferred to other operating prison and penal farm of BuCor since January of this year,” said the bureau.
IPPF is engated in Reformation Initiative for Sustainable Environment (RISE) for Food Security project.
Catapang said the transfer of PDLs is only a “stop gap” measure in addressing overcrowding at the NBP which, according to the bureau’s records, has been admitting 7,823 PDLs annually for the past five years compared to the 5,327 released every year.
“Under these conditions, PDL population will continue to grow at steady rates making regionalization the most potent solution,” he said.
To address overcrowding, Catapang said the BuCor has also exerted more efforts in the release of qualified PDLs under its “Bilis Laya” program.
A total of 11,347 PDLs had been released from June 2022 up to January this year.
Catapang said the bureau expects to release more PDLs since the prison records of 36,044 PDLs had been forwarded to the Bureau of Pardons and Parole for evaluation and resolution.