No transfer to Kalunasan: 300 inmates to stay in BBRC

Mayor Tomas Osmeña rejected the recommendation to transfer over 300 inmates of the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center to the new city jail in barangay Kalunasan because he already "gave up hope" on the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.



This as BBRC oversight committee chairman Gregorio Bacolod asked Vice Mayor Michael Rama, chairman of the Police Coordinating and Advisory Council, to endorse his proposal for the gradual transfer of BBRC inmates.

The plan is aimed at decongesting BBRC, which was designed to accommodate only 250 inmates but presently housing 2,369.

"I will not go along with it until I'm convinced that it is run properly. They can make all the reason they want. If they want to do something, they do it correctly," Osmeña said.

In 2003, Osmeña cut the city's assistance to BBRC, including the monthly rice subsidy of P250,000 and the P1,000 monthly allowance of each BJMP personnel.

This after the BJMP officials did not coordinate with the five-man committee the mayor had created to look into how they spent the inmates' P1.8 million monthly meal allowance from the national government.

Aside from cutting the BBRC assistance, the city government signed a memorandum of agreement with BJMP and the Department of Interior and Local Government for the city to operate the jail through a 14-man oversight committee.

"I promised the people in Kalunasan and Beverly Hills (in Lahug) that if there's a transfer their safety is assured. But under the present circumstances I can't assure their safety," Osmeña said.

Osmeña pointed out he wanted to see honest-to-goodness reforms before allowing any transfer of inmates to the new jail facility and he does not want to go along with the plans of the "most corrupt" agency in the government.

When asked about what reforms he wanted Osmeña said: "That's a good question because I gave up hope on them... Ma-high blood lang ko diha oy. It will just affect everything else I'm doing. Bahala na sila. That's their problem." - Cristina C. Birondo