The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) assured that improving the welfare of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) will always be its top priority.
Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. said: “Under the ‘Bagong Bucor sa Bagong Pilipinas’ no one will be left behind, as we navigate through our modernization program to make the Bucor relevant, sustainable and respectable."
Catapang's assurance was made in response to the calls by Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan not to forget PDLs' welfare amid the BuCor’s joint ventures with the private sector to generate income.
He poited out that the joint ventures will provide inmates the means to earn a living while behind bars as well as form part of their reformation in preparation for their release and re-integration into society.
Under Republic Act (RA) 10575, the BuCor Modernization Act of 2013, Catapang said it is the mandate of the bureau that the safekeeping of PDLs are within the established United Nations standards.
He pointed out that RA 10575 allows the bureau “absolute authority to design, formulate and implement land-use development plans and policies as a way to maximize our assets’ value for the effective and extensive reformation (corrections) programs for national inmates.”
“We may even propose additional penal farms as may be necessary as possible, aside from the existing seven prison and penal farms to decongest existing penal institutions and accommodate the increasing number of inmates committed to the agency,” he said.
He then thanked congressman Yamsuan for commending BuCor for signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) in identifying where economic zones will be established within the bureau’s landholdings.