P3-B allotted for construction of 60 new jails

MANILA -- To address overcrowding in jails, President Rodrigo Duterte bared that the government will be shelling out around PHP3 billion for the construction of 60 new jail facilities.

“I am glad to report that the government has allotted PHP3 billion for the construction of 60 new jail facilities to reduce jail congestion rate,” Duterte said during the 28th anniversary of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Camp Aguinaldo on Friday (July 12) night.

Duterte said prisoners are still human beings and deserved to be given a place good enough to live in.

“They are human beings and we are supposed to give them habitable prison. Kaya lang inuuna natin (But we are prioritizing) the other priorities, sometimes they are really forgotten,” Duterte said.

Duterte lauded the BJMP for cooperating with Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency

(PDEA) in the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs, particularly in the confiscation of contraband.

“I am pleased that your conduct of the almost 30,000 Greyhound Operations from January to...2019 has led to the confiscation of the illegal drugs, weapons, and almost PHP2 million worth of cash and other contraband from jail cells,” Duterte said.