IN THE wake of so many bad things happening at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa, I have been advocating the construction of another correctional facility outside of Metro Manila.
Then came a proposal to relocate both the NBP and the Correctional Institute for Women to Fort Magsaysay covering more than three Nueva Ecija towns. I thought it was a great idea.
Unfortunately, local politics prevented the proposed relocation. That was during the Ramos era when local politicians were anti-administration.
At that time, there were only about 12,000 convicts at the NBP, which was originally designed for only 9,000 inmates. Now, NBP houses more than 24,000 convicts and has become a “mini Las Vegas.” Illegal drugs and prostitution exist with impunity, and high-profile inmates lead a luxurious life. Unbelievable, but true.
Congressional hearings have been done in aid of legislation. But the illegal drug trade prevails at the NBP despite President Duterte’s war on illegal drugs and criminality. Now we need a final solution to this problem.
Thus, when Secretary of Justice Vitaliano Aguirre announced that President Duterte had given the go-signal for the relocation of NBP and the CIW, and has set the bidding for the Public-Private Partnership Program for the design and construction of the new facility —with the government adding P50 billion to its original P150- billion budget—I said to myself, now the Duterte administration is thinking out of the box.
Three conglomerates have expressed interest in bidding for the project on November 24—the San Miguel Consortium, the DMCI Consortium and the Megawide Consortium. All are qualified. The prison complex at Laur, Nueva Ecija can accommodate 26,880 prisoners and will have modern facilities like staff housing and administration buildings, as well as for sports, work and religious activities.
State-of-the-art security facilities will be put up, and prisoners will wear digitalized wrist bands.
A number of supporting accommodations and building-related services—laundry, waste treatment and disposal, sewage water treatment and power generation—could be outsourced as part of the PPP agreement.
Congress is also preparing amendments of the law creating the Bureau of Corrections to overhaul the entire prisons system. This seeks to prevent the recurrence of unabated drug trade inside prison walls. More importantly, there is need to increase the salaries of prison guards to prevent bribery. All these can be done with enough political will by the Duterte administration.
In this connection, I wonder what the Duterte administration is doing to the many city and municipal jails nationwide. Prisoners exist in sub-human conditions.
We may have a modern and state-of-the-art prison facility within three years at Nueva Ecija, but, something also has to be done to make local jails livable.
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The reluctance of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales to indict former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, now senator, for all the crimes attributed to her by President Duterte and the many whistleblowers is not unexpected.
The House justice committee and the entire House of Representatives are divided in recommending the prosecution of De Lima for her alleged involvement in the drug trade.
Secretary of Justice Aguirre himself has said that without documentary evidence, any case against De Lima would be difficult to prove beyond reasonable doubt. As a lawyer myself, I know that testimonies of convicted drug lords and their allies remain just that—hearsay.
Unfortunately, while there’s still no case against De Lima that can stand in court, as far as the public is concerned, she is already guilty. She is a dead duck, politically speaking. Damaged goods. This is the result of trial by publicity.
At this point in time, I really want to sympathize with De Lima—but I can’t. Especially when I remember how she acted as the attack dog of former President Noynoy Aquino in going after his political enemies.
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With President Duterte’s attempt to obtain the good graces of China and Russia, wanting to do war games with both countries, he should take into consideration the fact that majority of Filipinos—55 percent—do not trust China. And if Filipinos are asked what nation they would like to be with, I am certain that a great majority of Filipinos would rather choose the United States.
Santa Banana, I cannot imagine any Filipino choosing to be immigrants to China or Russia rather than the United States!
I agree that the Philippines must have an independent foreign policy. But this should not be achieved at the expense of ties with our longtime ally.
Mister President, let’s us be friends to every nation.