SC extends suspension on transfer of PDLs until Sept. 30

FILE: A medical worker secures specimen samples from a person deprived of liberty at the Pasay City Jail on Friday (July 3, 2020). (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA – The Supreme Court (SC) has directed courts anew to refrain from issuing commitment orders for the transfer of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

In Circular 149-2020 dated September 1 and released on Wednesday, Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez informed judges of first and second level courts nationwide that an earlier order suspending the transfer of PDLs has been extended until September 30.

Marquez said the measure is being undertaken “considering that the country remains to be in different levels of community quarantine due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The high court earlier ordered the suspension of transferring detainee PDLs with pending cases between jails under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and convicted PDLs to prisons run by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

The latest circular extends Circular No. 121-2020 which suspended the issuance of commitment orders for newly arrested PDLs to the local jail units of the BJMP unless these jail units are already able to admit the PDLs.

It also extended was Circular No. 125-2020 which suspended the issuance of commitment orders for convicted PDLs to the BuCor.