MANILA, Philippines — The government of Muntinlupa City asked the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to protest the transfer of COVID-19 patients from the Correctional Institution for Women to an isolation area in their locality.
Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi wrote to Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograales to express the opposition of “majority of the Muntinlupeños” on the use of a New Bilibid Prison facility to isolate COVID-19 cases from the CIW in Mandaluyong City.
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Fresnedi said that while they recognize that humanity should be extended to those infected, “we also have to consider the thousands of Muntinlupeños who are put at great risks with the additional COVID-19 patients brought to the city.”
The city mayor stressed that their local government exhausted measures to attend to health needs of their residents, including those in Bilibid and flatten the curve in Muntinlupa.
But COVID-19 patients were still brought into the city.
“[I]t is worthy to recall to mind that COVID-19 is a potential catastrophic virus that poses great risks not only to the people of Muntinlupa, the officials and personnel of the NBP but also of the inmates of said overcrowded prison facility where social distancing may not be feasible,” he added.
“It is in this light that this protest is purposely made because the City Government of Muntinlupa, as a caring City, has its paramount mission to promote the health and well being of its people—to shield them from the deadly virus,” Fresnedi added.
'Site Harry'
The Bureau of Corrections put up Bilibid quarantine area, Site Harry, that has 300 beds.
Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete earlier told reporters that BuCor officials’ attempt to inform city government of the transfer failed “as the relevant local official could not be reached.”
“In any event, we like [to] assure the local government of Muntinlupa and the city residents that all precautions and protocols were complied with in the transportation of individuals from CIW,” the DOJ spokesperson said.
He added that the construction of the quarantine facility complied with the World Health Organization and Department of Health standards.
Perete also said they are coordinating with the Department of Public Works and Highways for the construction of bigger quarantine area, should need arises.
The first COVID-19 confirmed cases in the national penitentiary passed away last weekend, while the Corrections bureau said they confirmed 48 COVID-19 cases in inmates and one case from its medical staff.
The Justice department last week eased guidelines for, and speed up, applications for parole and executive clemency to help decongest BuCor facilities.
Earlier this month, a group of 23 prisoners filed a petition before the Supreme Court to direct their temporary release during "“the duration of the state of public health emergency, national calamity, lockdown and community quarantine due to the threats of the COVID-19.”
The group is composed of political prisoners and detainees who are elderly sick or pregnant, who are detained in crowded facilities where social distancing is "practically impossible."
The Office of the Solicitor General, however, asked the high court to dismiss this petition, pointing out that the situation does not constitute valid grounds for the petitioners' release.