Detainees’ transfer to city jail bucked

The families of political prisoners in Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City, have asked the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), in the spirit of Christmas, to stop requesting their kin’s transfer to local jails.

In a letter to BJMP chief Allan Iral, Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim noted that the bureau had filed before the courts seven motions in less than a month for the transfer of 12 political prisoners out of Jail Annex 4.

Lim, wife of detained National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultant Vicente Ladlad, said the BJMP would not even provide the names of these detainees.

The letter said that while the BJMP wanted “to save on government resources being used for transport” and “avoid the risk of the prisoners being rescued,” many of the 44 political prisoners detained in Bicutan were transferred there because local jail wardens had worried about their security,” and asked that they be moved to Camp Bagong Diwa.

Kapatid said the activities of political prisoners were already limited, closely controlled and monitored, and that “whatever ‘organized activities’ they do cannot be anything but legitimate and justified.”

Human rights group Karapatan warned that frail and sickly political detainees could face profound implications on their health and well-being with their transfer to city jails.

BJMP deputy for operations Gen. Dennis Rocamora assured the detainees’ relatives that the BJMP had already ordered the warden of Annex 4 to stop the transfer of affected prisoners out of Bicutan.