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Friday, July 21, 2006
Tomas to hire inmates for SRP
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has found a way to temporarily solve the congestion problems at the city jail: hire some of them to work at the South Reclamation Project (SRP).
Osmeña said his idea will not only decongest the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) during the day, it will also give
inmates an opportunity to earn.
In a news conference yesterday, the mayor said the City Government is not capable of helping manage the jail facility at this time, as suggested by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu City Chapter.
‘Corruption’
“We are not going to support BJMP because of the corruption in their system. What we have to do if we’re going to take over is that we’re going to take over the entire operations, and I don’t have the internal management capability to do that,” he said.
The IBP suggested that the City Government take over the management of BBRC after seeing that the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC), which is managed by the Capitol, is faring better in terms of management.
But Osmeña said the BBRC cannot be compared with CPDRC. Unlike the governor, he said he doesn’t have the time and capability to look after the inmates because of several other facilities and issues he has to worry about like the city hospital, public markets and the vendors.
Taking over the BBRC will only cause problems for the City Government and will strain City Hall’s internal capabilities.
Easier
He added that it’s easier for Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia to help manage CPDRC because in managing the Province, she has all the municipal and city mayors to help her.
“She doesn’t get involved in the nitty-gritty of things and she has the luxury and capability to look at these problems. In my case, I still have problems with other things,” he said.
Also yesterday, the mayor announced plans to hire some inmates to do manual labor at the SRP in the coming months.
If the plan pushes through, the City will pay the inmate P100 for a day’s work and provide them with meals.
He said, though, that the plan will take several months to be implemented as everything will depend on whether the judges will allow them to work.
“Under this concept, we’ll be selecting prisoners who only have few months left to work, the ones who are considered low risk.
At least they have the opportunity to save so that when they are released, they’re not zero balance. This will at least bring down the congestion during the day,” he told reporters.
The mayor plans to have the inmates make sandbags that will be used as base for the internal roads at the SRP. (LCR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 21, 2006 issue)
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