Palayan mayor: Consult us on NBP transfer plan

PALAYAN CITY, Philippines – The mayor of this capital city of Nueva Ecija has called on the military leadership to consult the city government on the plan to transfer the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) from Muntinlupa City to the Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation.

Mayor Adrianne Mae Cuevas told journalists that the Army’s 7th Infantry (Kaugnay) Division is holding tomorrow a public hearing on the proposed NBP transfer but has not been invited Palayan officials to the consultations.

“They need to consult us Palayenos on the planned transfer. In the first place, people from other places who will travel to the proposed NBP site in Laur will pass our place. So our voices will have to be heard,” Cuevas said.

Earlier, Armed Forces chief Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. said President Aquino wants the NBP transferred to the Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation by 2014.

Catapang said Aquino wants a modern national penitentiary, reportedly costing P40 billion, to be among his accomplishments for 2014.

Cuevas said she does not oppose the project but wants people in the impact areas to be included in the consultations. “My only concern is the welfare of my constituents,” she said.

In the past months, Cuevas said the 7th ID leadership has been making moves not coordinated with the city government. “Sometimes, we learn of it from the national offices instead of the 7th ID so we need to be notified because it falls within our jurisdiction,” she said.

Considered the country’s largest military camp, the 44,000-hectare military reservation, named after the late President Ramon Magsaysay, houses the 7th ID, Scout Ranger Regiment, the Special Forces and Airborne Forces.

The 551-hectare NBP, which opened in Muntinlupa in 1940, is now heavily congested as it houses 14,500 prisoners in its maximum security detention area alone that was designed to accommodate only 8,400. The NBP houses a total of 20,000 prisoners.