ILOILO – The Sangguniang Panlalawigan’s (SP) Committee on Justice, Good Government and Human Rights is seeking an increase in the food budget for over 1,000 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) at the Iloilo District Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo.
The PDLs recently staged a protest over what they claimed were meals unfit for human consumption being served them.
The current daily budget of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) per PDL is P70 (or P23 each for breakfast, lunch and supper).
“Wala pa kita sang exact nga gin-commit kon pila gid ang aton i-dugang but we will do it, madugang kita,” said SP member Carol V. Espinosa-Diaz, chairperson of the committee which yesterday conducted a hearing on the various concerns of PDLs at the district jail.
It need not be fancy like lechon or spaghetti but PDLs deserve a proper meal, Diaz stressed, adding that P23 budget per meal is not enough.
Diaz also said the SP may pass a resolution urging the Department of Budget and Management and Congress to increase the food budget of jails.
For its part, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Region 6 suggested that the provincial government design livelihood programs for PDLs that could augment their meals.
A vacant lot at the Iloilo District Jail may be used for the PDLs’ backyard farming, it said.
Another PDL concern tackled was healthcare, particularly dental services.
“Kulang ang dentists. We will see kon makapadala dental health caravan para maka-avail sila free dental services,” Diaz said.
BJMP Region 6 director Jail Chief Superintendent Clint Russell Tangeres, Chief Inspector Denver Beltran, and CHR regional director Jonnie Dabuco attended the committee hearing at the provincial capitol, together with 4th District Provincial Board members Rolando Distura and Domingo Oso, Jr., 2nd District Provincial Board members June Mondejar and Rolito Cajilig, and 1st District Provincial Board member Carmelo Nochete./PN