MANILA, Philippines — About P4 billion is needed for building a maximum security prison facility for 2,000 heinous crime convicts “who should not be within the reach of other people,” Justice Secretary Jesus Remulla said during the department’s budget hearing at the Senate yesterday.
Remulla said the Department of Justice (DOJ) is coordinating with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to finalize the details of the construction of the jail facility in Sablayan, Mindoro Occidental early next year.
“We have an agreement with the DPWH about the supermax jail. We will finalize it as we work on the budget. It would be in Sablayan, Mindoro Occidental,” Remulla told reporters. “About P4 billion (budget) for the supermax. We are looking for 2,000 people, about P2 million per prisoner.”
He said the DOJ is now working on the details, including the designs that he hoped to be implemented by the start of 2023, and for only one and a half years.
“We are doing the studies and designs. Everything has to be in by next year. If we can do it in 18 months, we will do it,” the DOJ chief said.
Aside from the supermax jail facility, Remulla said he is also pushing for the repair and rehabilitation of existing facilities in the regions, including San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City, Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan, Davao Prison and Penal Farm, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farms in Occidental Mindoro, Leyte Regional Prison, and Correctional Institute for Women.
He said the repair and rehabilitation of the regional jails would cover about P5 billion and be done in two to four years.
He also pointed out that aside from the facilities, jail personnel must also be reoriented to remove the apparent “self-entitlement” attitude and send them to other jail facilities.
Remulla also revealed that when the suspended Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag was appointed, he brought 65 Bureau of Jail Management and Penology personnel with him. “It was not exactly the best that happened to the bureau. As they acquired the old habits,” he said.
Of the 176 persons deprived of liberty (PDL) cadavers left unclaimed at the Eastern Funeral Services in Muntinlupa City, nine bodies have already been buried, Remulla disclosed yesterday.
Remulla told reporters that the nine cadavers were buried as they were in the stage of decomposition, but emphasized that the bodies may be exhumed if “any lead” is found on the cause of their deaths. – Robertzon Ramirez