NBP no longer for new PDLs—DOJ

By Rey E. Requejo

DEPARTMENT of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin

Remulla on Friday said newly convicted persons will no longer be incarcerated at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.

Remulla indicated that the measure was meant to stop further congestion at the national penitentiary.

“We will just bring them to the other jails available, the other prisons available. We will stop increasing the population in the NBP. The number (of prisoners) there will decrease,” Remulla said in a media briefing.

“You should not enculturate a person to a bad environment if possible. Let’s try to spare them from the travails of having to go through an institution like the NBP,” Remulla added.

The DOJ chief said new persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) could instead be brought to the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro, the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga del Sur, the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in Mindanao in Davao del Norte, and the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan.

Remulla said the moratorium took effect immediately, although he would still write a letter about it to Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. “So that he can tell the courts that it is already a policy of the DOJ not to bring anybody else into the NBP,” Remulla said.

He added they would also be coordinating on the matter with the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

“Hopefully, the local government officials with provincial jails can help us so that those sentenced to less than six years may be accommodated, so

BIG CLEANUP. Field workers of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) are in for a big task in clearing the Dolomite Beach Manila Bay of debris and trash deposited by strong waves due to Typhoon Egay. Norman Cruz