BJMP-7 Blames LGUs for Lack of Support

Authorities of the the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) 7 on Tuesday blamed some local government officials in the region for being adamant on sustaining the improvement of jail facilities in their area of responsibility.

“While it is true that BJMP is a national government agency, but we are serving the local people who become inmates and who are also under the leadership of local government officials”, Regional Director J/CSupt. Serafin Barreto Jr. of BJMP 7 said.

Barreto, during the AGIO Forum which was held at the BJMP 7 Headquarters in barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City, said while their functions are to serve jailed criminals, the national government is so tight in giving its financial support to help sustain the improvement of jail facilities in the different parts of Central Visayas.

“Because of this we are always asking and made some recommendations to some local government officials to help us financially in terms of solving the acute situation of jail congestion by decongesting all the 34 jail facilities within the 4 provinces of region 7”, Barreto said.

These jail facilities are 5 in Bohol, 17 in Cebu, 11 in Negros Oriental and 1 in Siquijor.

Barreto stressed that the congestion could be traced to the weak performance of the local courts in processing the cases of inmates which augmented beyond the capacity of almost every jail facility in the region.

“Since the national government can not provide enough funds for the purpose, we, the BJMP people should look (the) support of the LGU who are concerned over the jail facility under their area of management,” Barreto said.

However, he identified local government officials who supported the BJMP in solving problems like those in the cities of Mandaue, Lapulapu and Talisay in Cebu province.

Barreto said these LGUs have poured enough budget to improve their jail facilities to cope with the increasing population of their inmates.

The weak performance of Cebu courts in conducting judicial proceedings on cases of inmates were only given noticed after the judicial building at the provincial Capitol was destroyed by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake on October 2013.

Barreto said this has contributed much in the congestion of jails because while there is a significant increase of inmates, there is stagnancy of inmates who were released from jail.