AROUND 500 beneficiaries of the plea bargain program have already been released from the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) for yielding negative results in the drug dependency examination (DDE).

However, the facility is still not taking new admissions until it can fully address the congestion problem.

The pronouncement was made by Warden Reynaldo Valmoria in a phone interview on Tuesday, April 2.

Thirty inmates are also scheduled to be released on May 10, after yielding negative results in the DDE, a requirement for those who wish to avail themselves of the plea bargain program.

“Since Aug. 1 last year, we’ve stopped accepting inmates unless they’re high-profile suspects,” Valmoria said in Cebuano.

He said the latest inmate to be admitted to the facility was Jonas Bueno, the suspect in the murder of a farmer in Danao City last January.

Opened in 2004 during the term of then governor now Rep. Gwen Garcia (third district), the CPDRC, which was built for 1,500 detainees, is now home to 3,026 inmates as of April 2.

With fewer inmates, the facility’s food expenses have also dropped, Valmoria said.

He said inmates used to consume at least 35 sacks of rice daily, but the number has dropped to 30 sacks.

The CPDRC is managed by the Provincial Government. The Capitol provides funds for its operation, including the transport of detainees to and from attending court hearings.

“Actually, Capitol’s budget for the facility for the whole year is only for 3,100 inmates,” Valmoria said in Cebuano.

This year, the Capitol set aside P137 million for the facility, of which around P83 million is for food supplies.