Palace transfers ‘Bilibid’ to Tanay

President Arroyo has ordered the transfer of the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) from Muntinlupa City to Tanay, Rizal to give way to a socialized government housing project, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said yesterday.

The national penitentiary is at present housed in a complex of buildings in a sprawling 366.7-hectare reservation in Muntinlupa City.

Under Executive Order No. 568, Mrs. Arroyo said the transfer of the NBP to Barangay Cuyambay in Tanay was aimed at instituting an improved national prison system conducive to the reformation and rehabilitation of inmates.

"There is a need to improve, expand and upgrade the facilities of the New Bilibid Prisons and, at the same time, to relocate it to another site for practical purposes owing to the growing number of residential communities around the penal institution and the more strategic or higher developmental use planned by the government for its current site," the EO read.

Some 270 hectares of land in Barangay Cuyambay was allotted to the NBP.

Bureau of Corrections Director Vicente Vinarao said he is amenable to the transfer as long as the structures and amenities needed for NBP’s operation in the new site are ensured.

"As long as the plan, which entails the construction of new buildings with new dormitories, will not result in congestion of inmates, then we can always try it out. What is important here is that the basic services of the institution will continuously be carried out," he said.

Vinarao estimated that some P7 billion will be needed to put up new structures that will be similar to the offices and dormitories located inside the present NBP compound.

Earlier, NBP officials claimed that there is a need to construct an additional building in the compound because of congested dormitories, especially in the maximum security compound.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) will implement the transfer with the assistance of the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Department of Budget and Management, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and other concerned government agencies.

Meanwhile, the 366.7-hectare NBP reservation in Barangay Poblacion in Muntinlupa City will be converted into a socialized housing site for state workers, particularly employees of the Office of the President, the DOJ, Bureau of Corrections and the DENR.

Mrs. Arroyo said the program was in line with the government’s duty to undertake a continuing urban land reform and housing program, which would make available, at affordable cost, decent housing and basic services to underprivileged and homeless citizens in urban cities and resettlement areas. — Aurea Calica, Rhodina Villanueva