PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — Detention centers in Palawan are congested and have insufficient food allowance for the detainees, the regional office of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) disclosed during a forum here Thursday.
However, the problems occur not only in Palawan but actually common in the other provinces as well, said Lawyer Dennis Mosquera, CHR regional director in MIMAROPA or Region IV-B consists of five provinces: Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan.
Palawan’s Municipal Police Stations (MPS), on the other hand, are in better condition except in the capital, which Mosquera described as heavily congested with 12 detainees living together in a cell under stressful environment
“There are hammocks made of clothing materials that are already almost four layers. I told them to be careful because the one on top of the layer might fall and crash on the one below,” he said.
The human rights commission regional director said he will request for the assistance of the local government to transfer the detainees to the regular detention facilities as soon as their inquest proceedings have been completed.
“Twelve in one detention cell at the City Police Station (CPO) is too much. We will write to the local government unit for help, and I think the condition is here only because municipal detention cells have none detained,” he added.
Mosquera added that in Brooke’s Point in southern Palawan, only six persons are detained, and some cells are empty.
On the daily food allowance, findings were based on interviews with the detainees, who said the “meal subsidy per day remains at PHP60, which is really not enough,” he said.
“It is sad,” he said, noting jail facilities in the country face the same problems that should have already been addressed by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penalogy (BJMP) and by the House of Congress through the passage of a law increasing food subsidy. (PNA)
