Bilibid transfer to Fort Magsaysay sought

Sen. Richard Gordon has pushed for a bill transferring the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City to the Army’s Fort Magsaysay reservation in Nueva Ecija.

Under Senate Bill 1612, the Department of Justice is mandated to construct a new penal facility in Fort Magsaysay in Palayan City to house the NBP, which is currently located in Muntinlupa’s Barangay Poblacion.

Gordon noted that the NBP, established in 1940 for 10,000 persons, now has 24,770 inmates – which translates to a congestion rate of 146 percent.

“The NBP has been suffering from overcrowded and unacceptable living conditions and from lack of space and facilities for inmates to live in, let alone for the government to conduct rehabilitation program,” he noted.

“There is a need to improve, expand and upgrade the facilities of the New Bilibid Prison and to relocate the same to another site in view of the present congestion,” Gordon added.

He cited statements from former Bureau of Corrections officials who described the situation at NBP as already at a “state of emergency.”

Gordon said it is the obligation of the state to establish a stable national prison system where inmates are given humane treatment conducive for reformation and rehabilitation to enable them to return to society as productive and lawabiding citizens.

Last year, Chinese philanthropist Huang Rulun decided to help President Duterte’s war against illegal drugs by building a mega drug rehabilitation and treatment center that could house 10,000 patients.

The facility was built inside Fort Magsaysay, the largest military reservation in the country and a key training facility for the Philippine Army.