Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas (1st District, Ilocos Norte), a ranking member of the House Committee on Justice, also proposed the sale of the National Bilibid Prison and properties of other penal colonies estimated at 150 hectares to finance the construction of new provincial jails.
Fariñas made the proposal during a hearing and ocular inspection of the NBP compound by the House panel headed by Rep. Neal Tupas (5th District, Iloilo). Also present during the inspection was Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
Fariñas said the NBP property could be developed into another posh subdivision or commercial establishment like Ayala Alabang and the proceeds from the sale can be used to finance the construction of prison facilities in the provinces.
In his proposal, Fariñas said the prisoners from NBP and other penal colonies will be transferred to a new provincial facility. "They will be transferred to the provinces where they come from or where they committed the crime. This will enable their relatives to visit them often," he said.
Fariñas said like in the United States, the provincial governor will take charge of the prisoners. "We should let the governor take responsibility and be held accountable for it," he said.
"We have decentralized health, we have decentralized agriculture. Now, the jail system should be decentralized. Prison facilities should be by province and not by region," Fariñas stressed.
Fariñas said, as a former governor of Ilocos Norte, he has dealt with prisoners incarcerated in provincial jails but their numbers were only a couple of hundreds compared to the 10,000 inmates at the NBP.
"But here at the NBP, there are thousands of inmates and so jail guards have to tread a delicate line of enforcing order. It seems they are the hostages here," Fariñas said.
The House panel learned that the criminal gangs are the ones virtually running the prison camp through the dictates of some influential and rich prisoners and drug lords.
Fariñas said during the ocular inspection, he was surprised to learn that the men in blue uniform who were securing the prisoners are not prison guards but also inmates themselves who are called "bastonero."
"The BuCor (Bureau of Correction) treats inmates by the so-called best practice which is just the continuation of old policies known as modus vivendi," Fariñas said.
Fariñas said changing of policies at the NBP cannot be implemented overnight and might even create riots.
"We can solve the problem if we separate the inmates by dismantling them and returning them to their own provinces," Fariñas said.
During the hearing, Fariñas disclosed some irregularities, anomalous and illegal activities inside the NBP, which were related to him by some inmates and other sources in the prison camp.
Fariñas said drugs trafficking, prostitution, abuse of sleep out and live out privileges, high incidence of rape, robbery and murder due to the influx of residents inside the reservation areas are the main problems that should be addressed by the authorities.
"There are also irregularities in meal subsidies and infrastructure and renovation projects. There is no proper accounting and auditing of funds," Fariñas said.
Likewise, Farinas said there are also problems of congestion of prisoners, illegal releases of inmates thru falsification of documents and the unattended hospital needs of inmates.
"Escorting of inmates, illegal transaction of real estate and illegal leasing of structures, hubs and cubicles should also be addressed immediately," Fariñas said.
"The presence of business establishments inside the NBP compound such as Samsung and Burger Machine should also be investigated," Fariñas added.
Likewise, Fariñas said there are issues on socialized housing inside the BNP reservation. One of them is the access of inmates to private subdivisions inside the camp.
Source: http://www.congress.gov.ph
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