COVID-19 cases behind bars show need for temporary release, detained petitioners stress
MANILA, Philippines — Families of elderly and sick inmates insisted on their plea for a temporary release in this time of COVID-19 pandemic to the Supreme Court, saying measures enforced by the government were not enough to keep the coronavirus outside their detention facilities.
In a Reply submitted electronically to the SC on Monday, the petitioners said they take exception to the Office of the Solicitor General’s remarks in its Comment submitted last week, that are “execrable discharges of malicious conjuctures.”
Solicitor General Jose Calida blocked the petitioners’ plea and claimed that the petitioners are “valuable members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democractic Front of the Philippines.”
The OSG’s Comment falsely said CPP-NPA-NDFP is a terrorist organization, as the proscription of the CPP and NPA is still pending in court, although government agencies refer to the communist rebels and its representative in peace talks as "communist terrorist organizations."
"This gloomy speculation of the consequence of a ‘communist’ breaking out in the street during an outbreak being more dangerous than an unseen deadly virus is not only false, it is also awfully exaggerated and uncalled for," they said.
"Respondents’ callous disregard for human dignity is obvious from its attempt to reframe the conversation by contending that the issue at bar should be whether or not the State is capable of providing medical care to petitioners in the event they get afflicted with COVID-19," their Reply read.
The petitioners are composed of 22 detainees who are seeking temporary release through the bail or recognizance. They are represented by the Public Interest Law Center and the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers.
Their cases are still under trial of have not yet reached the trial stage, but they are detained due to their non-bailable charges.’
Measures not enough
They stressed: “Given the severe overcrowding and sub-human conditions in these jails, it is only a matter of time before a contagion breaks loose within its confines and afflicts detainees and jail personnel alike.”
Since the filing of their plea, the Bureau of Corrections and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology confirmed COVID-19 cases in different facilities they supervise.
The first COVID-19 case in the New Bilibid Prison has since died, while there are 48 Persons Deprived of Liberty from the Correctional Institution of Women are also isolated after their COVID-19 test turned out positive.
RELATED: BuCor records two new COVID-19 cases in women's prison
The BJMP meanwhile recorded at least 18 cases—nine inmates and nine staff—at the Quezon City Jail. At the Cebu City Jail, more than 200 cases have been recorded.
“The existence of the foregoing confirmed and suspected cases shows the inability of prison authorities to prevent the transmission of the disease. As a matter of fact, even under ordinary circumstances, Philippine prisons, in general, are not equipped with adequate medical and healthcare facilities and human resources to respond to the basic needs of the inmates,” they said.
“The preventive measures undertaken by respondent penal institutions were not able to keep the virus out,” they added.
They also pointed out that the DILG’s statement that inmates are “safer inside the confines of their detention cells rather than outside mingling with the rest of the population” was proven false and incorrect.
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