Political prisoners urge DOJ to halt transfers from Bilibid; BuCor cites congestion

Political prisoner support group Kapatid on Friday filed a petition asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to stop the mass transfers of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) to regional penal colonies.

According to Kapatid, the petition was signed by 45 political prisoners, including 12 senior citizens and 18 with medical conditions.

They said the relocation severely disrupts their healthcare, legal access, and family visitations and is a “double penalty.”

“While politicians reframe plunderers and corrupt officials as ‘political prisoners,’ real political prisoners fighting for human rights are treated worse than farm animals—herded, shaved, and banished to distant penal colonies away from their families,” Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim said in a statement.

“Mass transfers are not reform. They are deportation for profit disguised as decongestion. The government is treating prisoners like disposable cargo to clear prime public land for corporate gain,” she added.

The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) previously said it is transferring the PDLs out of the NBP as part of its decongestion efforts. BuCor chief Gregorio Catapang previously said he was looking to turn the BuCor headquarters into a “global city.”

According to Lim, the mass transfer will not solve congestion as the PDLs are being transferred to facilities that are already operating at 200% to 500% over capacity.

“It does not reduce the national prison population but simply banishes the crisis out of sight while pushing regional facilities to a breaking point,” she said.

Kapatid asked the DOJ and BuCor to stop the mass transfer, grant the petition for retention of the 45 PDLs, require written consent before relocation, cease the commercialization of public prison lands, uphold the UN Mandela Rules, and prioritize and expedite the release of the very elderly, seriously ill, and those who have served their sentence.

In response to Kapatid, Catapang reiterated that the transfer is part of the BuCor’s decongestion program.

BuCor said the program includes initiatives such as the Bilis Laya Program, the Inmate Redistribution Program to balance populations across facilities, and a regionalization plan that involves constructing separate regional penitentiary facilities.

Meanwhile, it said that the Separate Facility for Heinous Crimes Act requires the establishment of at least three isolated facilities that are segregated from the general prison population.

“Through these measures, the Bureau of Corrections aims to improve prison conditions, reduce overcrowding, and maintain a just and orderly correctional system in the Philippines,” BuCor said.

The BuCor director also denied that there are political prisoners.–NB, GMA News