A PHILIPPINE congressman has filed a bill calling to increase prisoners’ allowance for food and medicines to P130 from the current P85.
The measure seeks to address the “inhumane conditions of our jails and the lack of funding of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP),” Cagayan De Oro Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez said in House Bill No. 9100, which raises each inmates’ allowance for food to P100 from the current P70 and medicines to P30 from P15.
Last August, BJMP Director Ruel S. Rivera told the House appropriations committee that the under the proposed budget for 2024, the allowance per inmate is set at P85.
“We have a request [to the Department of Budget and Management] of P100 per PDL (persons deprived of liberty) and it considers the inflation as well as the increase in cost of commodities,” Mr. Rivera had told the panel.
The BJMP proposed a P23.84-billion budget for next year, with P4.66 billion and P999.49 million earmarked for food and medicinal expenses, respectively.
To get by, the BJMP depends on the assistance of local government units (LGUs) and nearby hospitals, said Mr. Rivera. Prisons also receive food in bulk from agrarian reform beneficiary (ARB) organizations through the Department of Agrarian Reform.
In its 2022 report, Commission on Audit (CoA) said Philippine jails are overcrowded by 367% due to slow court action.
“These contribute to the reasons why inmates die and are definitely violations of the UN’s (United Nations) minimum standard rules for the treatment of prisoners,” Mr. Rivera said. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
