CHR calls out agencies for 'lack of transparency' on conditions in prisons
MANILA, Philippines — The government's human rights commission on Sunday expressed concern over what it said was a lack of transparency and cooperation of the justice department and the Bureau of Corrections on "the existing poor conditions in prison populations" in the Philippines.
The Commission on Human Rights said that most correspondences on prison conditions were met with silence as it called for transparency and openness from the government with a number of persons deprived of liberty detained while awaiting trial amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"In particular, several correspondences were sent to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to request, among others, the list of PDLs confined at Site Harry and/or any other quarantine/isolation area and the list of deceased PDLs due to COVID-19. Despite the lapse of over 15 days since then, the Commission has yet to receive a response. We call out the BuCor and the DOJ for their lack of transparency and [their] non-cooperation," the commission's statement read.
"We too must bear in mind the unspoken case of PDLs detained in these facilities whose welfare and rights are equally important. Cases of COVID-19 in different detention facilities continue to be a cause for concern and may be seen as an indication that protocols and initiatives must be improved to curb the spread of the virus among PDLs. The urgent need to protect the remaining community against further infection must prevail over concerns of privacy of the deceased and their families at this time," it also said.
Kapatid, a group made up of the families and friends of political prisoners, has been pressing the bureau over the the overt silence of prison officials on coronavirus figures within the country's highly congested jails.
'Data privacy can't be used to deny the public's right to know'
It was reported earlier in the week that nine high-profile inmates, including Jaybee Sebastian—a convict and a "star witness" in the drug case against Sen. Leila de Lima—passed away due to COVID-19. However, Corrections Director General Gerald Bantag cited the Data Privacy Act in declining to confirm the names of those who died.
National Privacy Commissioner Raymund Liboro has since stressed that the “Data Privacy Act is not a cloak for denying the public’s right to know.”
RELATED: BuCor: Data privacy law bars disclosure on PDLs who died of COVID-19
"Easily the most worrying aspect of nine apparently contemporaneous deaths from COVID-19 within the same facility is the risk of infection faced by both the community of PDLs and even the staff. Devising or improving strategies to mitigate the spread of the virus becomes all the more imperative and in this case it is crucial to understand where the existing protocols and initiatives might have failed to curb the spread of the virus," CHR also said.
As of March 2020, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology has recorded a 534% prison congestion rate while the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) reported a 302% congestion rate within its facilities in December 2019.
Data from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) from October 2019 said that the bureau posted a 450% congestion rate, which, they said, meant that six prisoners occupied the space of four square meters, which was only meant for one detainee.
The BJMP is an agency under the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
In early July, the Office of the Court Administrator disclosed that 43,171 PDLs have already been released by trial courts from March 17, when the enhanced community quarantine was implemented, to July 3.
"Public interest in the face of alleged deaths of high-profile inmates due to COVID-19, necessitates disclosure of relevant information about their deaths—both in the interest of justice, as well as in crafting sensible ways forward in preventing further deaths in prisons and detention facilities," the commission said.
— Franco Luna with reports from Kristine Joy Patag
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