Even persons deprived of liberty (PDL) should be treated humanely, a former Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) assistant secretary-turned-congressman said.

Subscribing to this notion, Parañaque City 2nd district Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan hailed the increase from P70 to P100 in the food or subsistence allowance of inmates under the recently enacted P6.793-trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2026.

“PDLs should be treated humanely, and with dignity and compassion. Kahit sino naman ay magsasabing kulang na kulang ang P70 a day para sa kanilang pagkain. (Anyone would say that P70 a day is severely inadequate to cover for their meals)," Yamsuan said in a statement Tuesday, Jan. 13.

"We hope that this long-overdue increase would improve efforts of our jail officials in meeting the  nutritional needs of PDLs,” he noted.

According to Yamsuan, this year's outlay also provided for a slight increase in PDL's medicine allowance, from P15 a day to P20 a day.

Yamsuan, a member of the Bicameral Conference Committee (bicam) on the national budget, was among the leading advocates of the proposal to increase the subsistence and medicine allowances of inmates. The last time the allowances were adjusted was in 2019.

“Given today’s food prices, one hundred pesos a day may still be  not enough. But at least it’s a start. We will continue to push for humane living conditions for our PDLs, which is a key element in fueling their rehabilitation,” he added.

It was during the marathon bicam hearings last December that the proposal for the P100 per day subsistence allowance and P20 per day medicine allowance for PDLs was approved.

These increases cover PDLs detained in jails supervised by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), an attached agency of the DILG; and penal facilities managed by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), which is under the  Department of Justice (DOJ). 

Yamsuan sadly noted that the fiscal space under the 2026 budget did not allow for a significant increase in the medicine allowance of PDLs. 

“A medicine allowance of P20 per day is obviously grossly inadequate, especially with only a handful of medical personnel tasked to provide healthcare services to PDLs detained in overcrowded and ill-maintained BJMP jails throughout the country.

"We will advocate for an increase in the medicine allowance of PDLs  in the national budget for the next fiscal year,” he said. 

Yamsuan also expressed concern over the lack of funding for the rehabilitation of BJMP-supervised jails under the 2026 budget, which would have helped in the bureau’s decongestion efforts. 

He pointed out that the increases in the subsistence and medicine allowances of PDLs for 2026 were based on a lower number of 141,843 assumed persons detained in BJMP jails for this year compared to the much higher 182,556 assumed number of PDLs in 2025. 

“We are all aware of the congestion rate in our jails and the conditions of our PDLs. The BJMP should step up efforts to decongest its jail facilities this year to keep PDLs within the number assumed under the 2026 budget to ensure that the P100 daily subsistence allowance would fully benefit each detainee under its care,” Yamsuan said. 

The latest available data show that the congestion rate in BJMP jails went down slightly from 296 percent in May 2025 to 286 percent in September 2025. 

BJMP data as of July 2025 placed the total number of PDLs under its supervision at 115,065 inmates.