Due the overcrowding, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) is set to renovate its only detention facility for foreigners in Taguig City.
BI Spokesperson Dana Krizia Sandoval said the facility inside Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City was built to accommodate a little over 100 detainees only but it is now housing 300 foreign nationals.
“It’s in the pipeline already to rehabilitate this area,” Sandoval said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum on Wednesday, May 15.
She said the BI is eyeing the construction of two buildings and the detained foreigners will be transferred to another facility while the construction is ongoing.
“We’re in the final talks on venue where we can transfer our inmates. There’s a venue already where we can transfer some of our wards temporarily while we are rehabilitating our facility,” she also said.
To ease the overcrowding, Sandoval said the BI has sought the help of other law enforcement agencies to take in arrested foreigners.
“If there are joint arrests, sa kanila ang physical custody (they get physical custody),” said Sandoval who noted that the BI gets legal custody during such operations.