FILE PHOTO: Senator Aquilino 鈥淜oko鈥� Pimentel III. (Screengrab / PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III proposed on Wednesday the construction of a 鈥渨orld-class鈥� maximum security prison in the country.
Pimentel said the country should have only one modernized maximum security prison because regionalizing it would be 鈥渋mpractical.鈥�
鈥淚f it鈥檚 a maximum security prison, then let鈥檚 make it a world-class maximum security prison in the sense na (that) the security features in that prison should be modern,鈥� he said during the Senate committee on justice and human rights hearing.
鈥淣gayon (Now), since this will be a state-of-the-art maximum security prison, I believe that we should only build one kasi (because) it would be impractical to regionalize state-of-the-art world-class maximum security prisons,鈥� he added.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin 鈥淏oying鈥� Remulla agreed with Pimentel鈥檚 idea.
鈥淚 agree that we should only build one maximum security prison that is really meant to house all those who should be in a facility of this nature,鈥� the chief of the Department of Justice said.
In a span of 20 years, around 400 prisoners have escaped the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, Remulla noted. Hence, he is pushing for the relocation of the penitentiary.
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Remulla likewise raised that the Bilibid鈥檚 maximum security prison is congested.
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鈥淩ight now, there are 17,000 people in the maximum security area of the Bilibid, which is designed to house only 7,000 people. It鈥檚 really overpopulated now,鈥� the chief said.
He, however, assured senators that the figure will be slashed with the implementation of the good conduct, time allowance law and decongestion program, among others.
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