SP rejects provincial jail turn over
LINGAYEN—Provincial board members unanimously rejected a proposal made by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to immediately transfer the full management, administration and control of the provincial jail over a three-year transition period.
“You want (us) to assume full control during the transition period? What kind of transition is that? No way,” said 6th district Board Member Alfonso Bince Jr. during the hearing conducted Monday.
“It’s like a knock out punch of Manny Pacquiao in his fight with Ricky Hatton,” Bince later told The PUNCH.
The BJMP, on the other hand, claims that it is proposing what has been accepted by other provincial governments.
There is also a pending bill on Congress intended to transfer the handling of provincial jails to provincial governments. So far eight provinces have adopted the BJMP proposal prior to the passage of the law.
“While awaiting the possible approval (of the bill), we would want the province to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and placing a transition period of three years at which time the amendatory bill is expected to become law,” said Jail Senior Inspector Kenneth Biding, legal officer of the BJMP in the region and concurrently the jail warden of the BJMP in San Carlos City.
He added BJMP wants to “professionalize” the provincial jails’ operation by improving the management of the jail and to relieve the provincial government of financial burden, particularly the salaries of the guards and other operating expenses once the bill eventually becomes a law.
However, Provincial administrator Rafael Baraan said, “But what if the bill is not approved?”
“In the first place, BJMP should come up with a very clear set of items that it would like to propose,” Baraan added, nothing that there are many gray areas in the proposed MOA.
Meanwhile, Provincial Budget Officer Hilaria Claveria said the provincial jail currently has an annual budget of more than P17-million.#
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