GOVERNORS WOULD NO LONGER BE JAILERS by: JO3 Jorge T Gregorio

Governors are jailers simply because they are the ones responsible in taking care of prisoners in their provinces. Responsible for the feeding, providing for the jail facility, and employment of jail wardens and jail guards for security, governors are not only the administrators of provincial jails but are also the custodians of the prisoners as well.
Millions of pesos from the coffers of provincial governments are being spent solely for the maintenance of provincial jails nationwide. For most of the governors, this is tantamount to waste of local funds and a duplication of functions considering that there is already an appropriate government agency supposed to take hold of securing them, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).
Now pending before Congress is House Bill No. 3441 seeking the transfer of the supervision, administration and control of all provincial jails and sub-provincial jails to the BJMP. The bill authored by Leyte Rep. Remedios Petilla is being supported by the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines headed by Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado.
Petilla said “I expect the bill to be enacted into law soon, having been given due course by the House Committee on Peace and Order. All provincial governors would no longer be jailers because jail management would be turned over to the BJMP.”
The jail bureau takes care of detention prisoners whose criminal cases are pending before trial courts and likewise confined convicted prisoners whose sentences range from three years and below. Prisoners with longer jail terms are brought to the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa. The distinction is that the Bureau is nationally funded while provincial jails are locally funded.
A recent survey showed that majority of all governors in the country support the move, claiming that the huge amount of expenditures could now be reallocated and used to other basic services in the province.
In the province of Catanduanes (Region V), for instance, Gov. Joseph C. Cua and the members of the Sannggunian Panlalawigan had personally negotiated the BJMP through OIC Legal Service Atty. Roy P Valenzuela in April 2008 to provide the governor legal issues and concerns on the transfer while the bill is pending in congress.
In a dialogue, Governor Cua said he could provide the Catanduanes BJMP a 3-hectare lot for the construction of a new jail facility including basic arms and equipment, once the bill is approved.
In another development, provincial governors of Negros Occidental and Bohol had recently come up with a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) temporarily allowing the provincial jails to transfer and to confine their prisoners to the BJMP.
In the MOA, the Province of Negros Occidental shall construct a 3-hectare lot at Barangay Tabunan, Bago, City which shall be named as Negros Occidental Integrated Jail Facility to be turned over to the BJMP upon its completion until the enactment of a new law.
“The province of Bohol shall allow the BJMP to use the existing Bohol Detention and Rehabilitation Center including all the equipment to be used for its operation. Also, the BJMP shall be given all the rights to use said properties by way of “USUFRUCT” and the former shall continue to provide financial assistance even after the lapse of the transition period thus, assisting the BJMP in the maintenance of the jail facility“, as stated in the MOA.