New female dorm for CPDRC

CEBU, Philippines - A dormitory-type facility that will house female inmates will soon rise inside the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center compound in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City.

Dr. Gil Macato, CPDRC acting jail warden, said the facility, which will be built on a 200-square meter lot, would accommodate over a hundred female inmates.

Macato said the proposed facility is among the plans to address congestion problem inside the jail.

He said they have set aside P10 million from CPDRC's proposed P118.7 million budget next year for the construction of an additional one-story facility to help decongest the provincial jail, which has a maximum capacity of 1,500 inmates.

At present, CPDRC houses 2,833 inmates with only 176 of them females and the rest are males.

"There is no approximate number (capacity) yet, but we are trying to make it a little bit bigger than usual. It's like a big conference room," he said.

He discussed CPDRC's proposed budget for 2017 before the budget committee yesterday.

Once the women have been transferred to the new facility, Macato said the male inmates will occupy their vacated cells.

The facility is expected to be constructed on the first quarter of next year.

Provincial Administrator Atty. Mark Tolentino said CPDRC remains firm in its earlier decision not to accept inmates from other local government units anymore.

"We have exceeded capacity already by over a 100-percent. If we accommodate them that will be more difficult to manage," Tolentino said. "Maglisod ta og dawat. We can't control the number of inmates. It might cause more problems on our part," he added.

Board Member Horacio "Raci" Franco during the budget hearing said "the situation there is very terrible already" and that the province should help improve the living conditions of the inmates. — Kristine B. Quintas and Izhar Seth P. Aloy (FREEMAN)