CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The Central Luzon Regional Development Council (RDC-3) has approved the relocation of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) to Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija.
The RDC approval is needed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to push through with its big-ticket project to build a state-of-the-art facility for inmates.
The transfer was approved unanimously by members of the council, after Justice Secretary Leila M. de Lima spoke before the RDC-3’s full council meeting here at the regional office of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) and appealed for the passage of a favorable resolution.
RDC-3, headed by Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado, sets the direction for the socioeconomic development of Central Luzon. Its members include governors and city mayors from the seven provinces of Central Luzon, as well as officials of government agencies and non-governmental organizations in the region.
De Lima, who discussed the proposal in a closed-door meeting with RDC-3 members before the council meeting formally began, said she came over to make a personal appeal to the RDC-3 to allow the transfer of the NBP from its present site in Muntinlupa City to Fort Magsaysay.
To set the council’s approval, Zambales Gov. Hermogenes E. Ebdane Jr., chairman of the Subcommittee on Infrastructure Development, formally endorsed the project for inclusion on the council’s agenda, noting that the conceptual plan for the project “has been found to be in order.”
According to de Lima, the DOJ wants to build a modern, state-of-the-art facility to be located in a 500-hectare complex within Fort Magsaysay, the largest military reservation in the Philippines and a key training area for the Army.
Inmates at the NBP in Muntinlupa City will, thus, be moved to the proposed P50-billion facility with modern security and correctional features, she said.
“This is the first big-ticket PPP [private-public partnership] project of the DOJ, and the first of its kind in the country,” de Lima said, adding that the project has already been approved by the Neda Board, headed by President Aquino.
She said the proposed facility will be the long-term solution to congestion in the NBP that has also resulted in what she described as “prison-based criminality.”
“We are in a hurry, and time is of the essence,” de Lima said, pointing out that it would take three years to build a new facility.
She explained that the project will be undertaken under a build-transfer-maintain scheme, with the builder turning it over to the Bureau of Corrections after the three-year construction period, but continuing to maintain the facility for the next 20 years.
This way, the government is not unnecessarily saddled with the task of maintaining the facility and could concentrate on its core function, she added.
Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali, meanwhile, informed the body that he has initiated consultations with stakeholders regarding the transfer of the NBP to their province, and that residents have agreed to the project.
“We know that there are pros and cons [to this project], but we are now in a position to support the transfer,” Umali said.
“Nueva Ecija is willing, for as long as we are included in the drafting of the terms of reference for the proposed project,” he added.
Pampanga Gov. Lilia G. Pineda, meanwhile, urged that the new prison complex provide adequate facilities to ensure the rehabilitation of female inmates, and proposed that the women’s cells be placed far from the men’s correctional facility.
To this, de Lima replied that there would be proper segregation in the proposed 500-hectare prison complex, especially for high-risk inmates.
Image credits: Henry Empeño