BICOL Saro Party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan backed the appeal of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to increase the budget for the food and medicines of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) for 2025.
The BJMP made the appeal during the House Committee on Appropriations’ deliberations on the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) 2025 budget last August 15.
Yamsuan, a former DILG assistant secretary, said a daily food budget of P70 for each inmate and a medicine budget of P15 was “grossly insufficient to fulfill their nutritional and health requirements.”
“Like I’ve said before, what nutrition will you get with P70 for breakfast, lunch and dinner?” he said in a release on Wednesday.
He also said that disease could easily spread inside detention facilities if the health of inmates is neglected.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) also expressed support for the BJMP’s appeal.
“The CHR respectfully urges our legislators to consider BJMP’s appeal … to ensure humane conditions and adequate resources for the reformation of the PDLs,” the CHR said in a statement last August 17.
“[The Philippines] as a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), has an obligation to adhere to these standards and fully respect the rights of all individuals, including PDLs. This responsibility entails providing sufficient funds for their basic food and medical needs,” it said.
Based on the DILG’s presentation of its 2025 budget under the National Expenditure Program last August 15 at the House, the subsistence allowance for a projected 182,556 PDLs totaled P4.664 billion “( 70 per PDL/day).”
Meanwhile, the allocation for medicine allowance is at P999.494 million or P15 per PDL/day.”
BJMP Jail Director Ruel Rivera said during the budget deliberations that “we have a request of P100 from P70.”
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