Most PH jails gravely overcrowded—COA

NEARLY 70 percent of the country’s jails are dangerously overcrowded, thanks but no thanks to the law enforcers’ relentless drive against illegal drugs, along with shortage of trial judges and poverty that prevented countless prisoners from posting bail for their temporary liberty.

According to a Commission on Audit (COA) 2022 report, the national jail congestion was at 67.57 percent last year, or 323 out of 478 jails virtually bursting at the seams, to the extreme prejudice of the prisoners also called persons deprived of liberty (PDLs).

In its audit on the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), the COA said occupancy rates in the socalled correction facilities ranged from 101 percent to as high as 2,739 percent.

The total jail population as of the end of 2022 was 127,031 which was way beyond the “total ideal capacity” of 46,702, the COA said.

“While the agency has been continuously professionalizing the jail services as well as unceasingly providing the basic needs of PDL such as food, drugs and medicines, rehabilitation supplies, etc., congestion has always been one of the biggest challenges in carrying out its mandate in humane safekeeping and development of PDL under its care,” the audit report stated.

The audit team noted that congestion in Philippine jails violated the United Nations standards on jail management, as well as the BJMP manual itself.

Areas in the country with the highest jail congestion rates were Calabarzon, Mimaropa, and Metro Manila, the COA said.

For 2022, there was a net increase of 1,684 PDLs from 125,347 in 2021. Among the reasons were the government’s campaign against illegal drugs and delays in court processes due to a lack of judges.

“Likewise, the non-posting of bail of qualified detainees, who are from below poverty line and cannot afford to post bail, still remained imprisoned,” the COA noted

CULTURAL HERITAGE COMPENDIUM. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas launches its book “Kaban: 50 years of Investing in the Philippine Cultural Heritage” that reflects on the institution’s role in the preservation of the Filipino traditions through a curated collection of representative pieces from its numismatic and arts collection from the pre-colonial to the contemporary periods.

THE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Wednesday announced it will open public utility vehicle (PUV) routes to serve regular commuters of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) to be affected by the closure of the train stations due to the construction of the North-South Commuter Railway.

“The effect of the closure of these select PNR stations on commuters will be quite substantial so through these PUV routes, we hope to lessen the impact of the closure. We appreciate the help of the PNR in identifying the routes, and we know that once the NSCR is completed, its benefits would be truly worth it in terms of passenger mobility along our railways, which is regarded as one of the most convenient and affordable modes of public transportation in the country,” LTFRB chairman Teofilo Guadiz III said.

The construction of the 147-kilometer urban railway network connecting Metro Manila to Pampanga and Laguna would last about five years or until 2028, and was expected to pose serious daily commuting problems to some 30,000 people. Rio N. Araja

By Rey E. Requejo

THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) seriously considers downgrading the alert level status on Myanmar following an appeal by the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) there.

The DFA raised the Alert Level 4 on Myanmar in May 2021 due to political unrest and instability caused by the military’s takeover of the Myanmar government.

“First, I can say most certainly we are considering [lowering] the alert level. We can’t completely lift the alert level and make it back to normal situation where we could deploy Filipino workers,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said in interview with ANC.

“But certainly, we can recommend to the DMW (Department of Migrant Workers), which issues the final resolution about it, allowing Filipinos who are already legally working in Myanmar to return to Myanmar if they come to the Philippines,” De Vega added.

The DFA official will leave later this month to meet with Filipinos in Myanmar.

A group of Filipinos in Yangon asserted that while civilian movement was still limited in Myanmar, the general situation had gone back to normal.

De Vega will be in Yangon on June 29. He said coordination between the Philippine Embassy in Yangon and with the Myanmar authorities was in progress.

“The department is now reviewing and it’s only a matter of sending our recommendations, but we want to be absolutely sure that the situation is really safe,” he said.

According to De Vega, the Philippine government was considering the situation of Filipino workers in Yangon, including the human trafficking victims.