Malilong: Some prisoners in Covid-19 time

THE enhanced community quarantine in Cebu City is due to expire on Friday, May 15. Will Mayor Edgardo Labella extend it or allow it to lapse? Will he modify it or revert to general quarantine, which was what we had until its enhancement?

It’s a difficult decision especially in the light of the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the city. On the other hand, he has to consider the harm to the economy that the continued closure of all but essential businesses can cause.

Public health and the economy are two competing interests these days. Labella will listen to both sides but at the end of the day, it is going to be his call. However he decides, he can expect to be criticized. The panicky will react strongly to any measure easing up restrictions on the movement of people. The displaced workers are impatient to return to their jobs. And there are those who just love to criticize.

The undeniable fact is that we have an epidemic and we do not know when it is going to abate. That is something that should be foremost in everyone’s minds.

Five places—sitios Zapatera in Barangay Luz, Callejon in Labangon, Alaska in Mambaling and, just the other day, Bagumbayan in Carreta—and the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center in Kalunasan had been found to have a fairly large number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, making them veritable hot spots of the disease in the city.

As a result, Zapatera, Callejon, Alaska and Bagumbuhay were all placed under a lockdown. The BBRC was not included because there was no need for further restrictions since its residents are already locked up.

All these places are densely populated, making social distancing very difficult to observe. But the inmates’ situation is worse; they cannot choose who to bunk with and the jail is more congested than the shanty of an informal settler with a wife and four children.

They have not received as much attention as the afflicted people who are living in the outside. I seriously doubt if they have ever received toiletries or any relief assistance from either the public or the private sector. These are after all, in the minds of many, house “guests” of the government. Besides, they are in jail because they have done wrong and therefore do not deserve equal treatment as those out of it.

But what if they really did not do wrong? What if they have been wrongly accused but have not been released because the process of determining his guilt (or innocence) is long and tedious? What if he has not been able to post bail because he could not afford it or his application to be granted temporary liberty has not or cannot be heard?

I do not blame the judges. Their hands are tied by the rules. They cannot grant bail in non-bailable offenses if the evidence of guilt is strong. And they cannot make a determination on weakness or strength without giving the prosecution an opportunity to be heard. Many judges have been disciplined for not observing this procedure.

The courts have a rule granting priority to cases involving detention prisoners in the schedule of hearings. There is no better time to strictly observe and even improve that rule than now. Obviously, they cannot free everyone from prison simply because it has been hit by an epidemic. But at the same time, it would be a tragedy if some of the prisoners who may have been eligible to post bail are unable to do so and as a result continue to be exposed to the disease simply because there was not enough time to hear their plea.

I respectfully submit, Your Honors.