Plunder, graft raps filed vs. BJMP top officials over alleged double budgeting

While most jail staff and personnel operate in an honest way, some top officials of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology officers are facing plunder and graft charges due to alleged corrupt practices.
 
Jail Inspector Angelina Lumba Bautista of the BJMP said this at a press conference on Wednesday dubbed “Double food budget: Corruption in the BJMP?" convened by human rights groups led by the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA).
 
Bautista said a plunder complaint was filed with Office of the Ombudsman on March 20, 2015, against seven top officials of the BJMP, in connection with the alleged misappropriation of public funds.
 
Citing documents from the Province of Bataan, Bautista – currently assigned at Valenzuela City Jail and previously assigned in Bataan and other key cities in Central Luzon – pointed out that the signing of a MOA between a local government unit could be a source of irregularities by some BJMP officials.
 
The BJMP and the Provincial Government of Bataan entered into MOA dated August 18, 2010 for the management and operation of the Bataan Provincial Jail, now renamed as Bataan District Jail situated in Balanga City.

Based on the MOA, the Provincial Government of Bataan appropriated funds for the subsistence allowance of the inmates during the transition period until its full transfer or upon the enactment of a law that will transfer jurisdiction of the Bataan Provincial Jail to BJMP.
 
“The MOA between the Provincial Government of Bataan and the BJMP clearly states that former will provide funds for the subsistence allowance of inmates during the transition period, where the phase of gradual transfer of management and jurisdiction from provincial LGUs to BJMP,” Bautista said, referring to a copy of the MOA.
 
And yet, based on some documents, the "BJMP reported expenditures for subsistence allowance including the food needs of the same jail and inmates for the same period,”  Bautista said.
 
“The accumulated amount from August 10, 2010 to August 2013 could reach up to Php 50 million.” This amounts to plunder, she added.
 
For his part, PAHRA chairperson Max de Mesa said “It is a government obligation to provide for the basic food needs, even of inmates.”

“Hopefully, command responsibility in the BJMP in implementing this right has not been perversely turned into a ‘command conspiracy.’ And with this issue of “double budgeting”, BJMP stands accused, de Mesa said.
 
Bautista, together with human rights groups, expressed concern over a possible injustice committed against a total of 84,691 inmates who are detained in the 462 jails managed by the BJMP nationwide.
 
Based on the General Appropriations Act, an inmate has P50.00 food subsistence and P3.00 medicine allowance daily.
 
On the other hand, Aaron Pedrosa of SANLAKAS in an ealier report said, “This issue of “double budgeting” in the BJMP reveals that what was claimed to be a few isolated case of corruption is in fact the tip of a huge iceberg of dishonest practices that has infected the prisons and correction system nationwide like what happened recently in the New Bilibid Prison.”  — Jerbert Briola/LBG, GMA News