PPP 'best way' to have new super maximum jail facility —Remulla

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is considering public-private partnership (PPP) for the establishment of a "super" maximum security facility, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said Monday.

"Meron ho kaming pinag-aaralan na PPP project sa super max sapagkat… ang mahalaga po kasi sa super max, wala hong makikialam masyado and probably the PPP project is the best way to do it," Remulla said during the Senate hearing on the proposed P34.486-billion budget of the DOJ and its attached agencies for 2024.

"Kasi puwede ho nating i-vary 'yan pati management po ng facility ng super max, ay puwede rin ho nating ilabas kasi ang pinakamalaking problema po rito [ay] interference and corruption," he added.

(We are studying a PPP project for the super maximum jail facility. What is important is to prevent interference and the PPP project is the best way to do it. The PPP project can also cover the management of the facility because the main problem here is interference and corruption.)

A meeting on the PPP project for the super maximum jail facility is set on Monday, Remulla said.

Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gregorio Catapang Jr. supported the idea and promised to prevent the repeat of the escape of an inmate from the maximum security compound when they transferred the persons deprived of liberty in the new facility.

"We'll do our best and I promise you na wala nang tatakas (no one can escape the prison anymore) in as much as we are really closing down the New Bilibid Prison by 2028. Hopefully, ma-transfer na po silang lahat (we can transfer them all) to a better place but not in Muntinlupa,” Catapang told the Senate finance committee.

Catapang said the BuCor is doing its best to implement the law which creates separate facilities for heinous criminals and they will support the proposed PPP project if the government cannot fund it.

"Kung hindi talaga kakayanin ng gobyerno pondohan itong paglipat, magpi-PPP po ang gagawin," he said.

(If the government cannot fund it then we would pursue the PPP.)

Senator JV Ejercito, sponsor of the recently-approved PPP bill in the Senate, said this project should be a priority, considering the unhealthy situation of inmates at the NBP.

"I think, it should be a priority, considering that the presence of the maximum penitentiary, 'yung Bilibid here in Muntinlupa, is not healthy anymore. Kasi talagang nasa (because it is in an) urban setting na siya and I think we really have to pursue 'yung idea ni Secretary Remulla to really move it already in Mindoro," he said. —KBK, GMA Integrated News