De Lima fears there won't be enough men to replace erring NBP staff

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Monday expressed fears that there might not be enough persons who could replace New Bilibid Prison (NBP) personnel who might be found conspiring with convicts in drug tractivities while in detention.

 

De Lima earlier said authorities are already trying to track down the owners of the marijuana and communication gadgets confiscated earlier inside the national penitentiary, and if any, NBP officials suspected to be colluding with the inmates.

 

The Justice secretary likewise has approved a reshuffle of NBP personnel in all Bureau of Corrections-supervised jail facilities as well as a drug testing among its personnel.

 

"Ang problema lang is kung maraming makita na nakipagkuntsabahan o mag-test positive (for drugs), sino ang ipapalit namin diyan," said De Lima.

 

The Justice Secretary however revealed she is already in the final stages of reviewing the Implementing Rules and Regulations for Republic Act 10575 or the BuCor Modernization Act of 2013, which aims among others to upgrade the bureau's facilities, increase the number of its personnel, and upgrade the level of qualifications of its personnel.

 

"Therefore, (inaasikaso) na namin iyong BuCor Modernization Act... Nasa akin na kasi iyong IRR. Actually, I already finished reviewing the IRR. I am just cleaning up in its final form," De Lima said.

 

De Lima said she would be meeting with concerned officials to talk about the scheduled issuance of the IRR for the BuCor Modernization Act in December.

 

De Lima said it was impossible to sneak in the confiscated items and gadgets into NBP premises without the help of NBP personnel. 

 

"These are not miniscule items na pwedeng itago, kung marunong tumago, matatago siguro... We will crack down on this erring officials and personnel," De Lima said.

 

De Lima said NBP authorities have intensified its operations against illegal drug-related activities inside the facility, and would continue conducting similar searches in the next few days.

 

Under Section 10 of the BuCor Modernization Law, the BuCor has been required to maintain the custodial personnel-to-inmate ratio of 1:7 and reformation personnel-to-inmate ratio of 1:24.

 

"[The BuCor] is authorized to increase its manpower to meet such ratio and may continue to increase personnel per percentage rate increase of committed inmates annually or as the need arises," the law read.

 

De Lima last week said the prison guard-to-inmate ratio at the NBP has slightly improved from higher than 1:70 to 1:50, although still short of the ideal 1:17.

 

 

As of last year, the NBP has a congestion rate of 134 percent, currently holding 21,106 inmates when it can only actually hold 9,000, according to De Lima. —NB, GMA News