Seventy persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City have been transferred to the Leyte Regional Prison (LRP) in Abuyog, Leyte to provide additional workforce for the latter's agricultural projects.
Those transferred -- 50 PDLs from NBP's maximum-security camp and 20 from the reception and diagnostic center -- arrived in Leyte on Sunday, June 23, BuCor said in a statement.
The transfer is also part of BuCor's jail decongestion program. Earier, BuCor had said that the sprawling NBP landholdings would be converted into a government center.
Meanwhile, BuCor Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. said he is eyeing the resumption of the construction of correction facilities in Laur, Nueva Ecija.
"We need to revisit this project to partially solve overcrowding at NBP and while awaiting funds for the implementation of RA (Republic Act) 10575, otherwise known as the BuCor Modernization Act," Catapang said.
He said the project is aimed at decongesting the NBP and is supposed to be implemented under a public-private partnership involving the construction of correction facilities on a 500-hectare lot in Laur town.