Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla has charged that jail guards at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City take 10 to 20 percent cut from the financial support that the inmates get from their relatives outside the penitentiary.
Remulla made the statement during a public hearing conducted by the House Committee on Public Order and Safety in connection with the disappearance of NBP inmate Michael Cataroja.
Remulla admitted that each inmate was allotted only with meager daily food budget of P70.
“This is for three meals already: breakfast, lunch, dinner. P70 a day…I think we all know that is not enough,” Remulla told the lawmakers.
To cope with the shortage of their sustenance, the inmates resorted to asking for money from outside the national penitentiary, he said.
“But the problem is, when it comes to this financial support, the jail guards take a cut from it,” he disclosed.
“With the GCash system, the guards take a 10 to 20 percent commission before the sent money is given to the person,” Remulla said, referring to the popular, mobile phone-based e-wallet.
“The inmates are really mired in poverty. That’s why malnutrition is one of the biggest problems here. The inmates don’t have anything to eat, it’s a difficult existence,” the secretary said.
Remulla made the disclosure after Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan, who had filed bills seeking to reform the correction system, asked Remulla to describe the prevailing subculture or “coping mechanism” of the prisoners.
The Justice Secretary also described the situation at the NBP as “survival of the fittest, law of the jungle.”
Yamsuan filed House Bill (HB) No.8672 seeking the creation of a Department of Corrections and Jail Management (DCJM).
The proposed DCJM will “address the inherent flaws in the country’s correctional system”, such as the perennial high congestion rate in jails, limited resources, poor coordination among government agencies involved in penal management, and the abuse and corruption in the NBP and other penal facilities, Yamsuan said.
“By centralizing the oversight and management of prisons and jails and the rehabilitation of Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) under a single department, the government can achieve greater efficiency and accountability,” he added.
Under HB No.8672, the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), which is currently under the DOJ; the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) of the Department of the Interior and Local (DILG); the correctional and jail services of the provincial governments; the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP); and the Parole and Probation Administration (PPA) would all be placed under the DCJM.