{"id":270607,"date":"2020-10-01T22:59:15","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T02:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=270607"},"modified":"2020-10-01T22:59:15","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T02:59:15","slug":"govt-continues-to-ensure-inmates-safety-amid-pandemic-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/10\/01\/govt-continues-to-ensure-inmates-safety-amid-pandemic-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov’t continues to ensure inmates’ safety amid pandemic: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
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According to Roque, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has put up a quarantine facility in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa for asymptomatic, mild, and moderate Covid-19 cases. (Pixabay photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 From decongesting penitentiaries to administering coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) tests, the national government is working to ensure the safety of inmates amid the prevailing pandemic, Malaca\u00f1ang said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this assurance following calls made by families and friends of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) to implement measures to mitigate the risk of contracting Covid-19 inside detention facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u00a0siyempre po inaaksiyunan ng gobyerno ang kundisyon ng lahat ng<\/em>\u00a0(of course the government is improving the condition of all) detention facilities,\u201d he said in a virtual presser.<\/p>\n

According to Roque, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has put up a quarantine facility in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa for asymptomatic, mild, and moderate Covid-19 cases.<\/p>\n

He said the Board of Pardons and Parole is speeding up the processes for the release of inmates who are qualified for parole and probation.<\/p>\n

\u201cMayroon na po tayong<\/em>\u00a0isolation facility\u00a0na naroroon na ibinigay rin po ng<\/em>\u00a0ICRC\u00a0\u2018no at siyempre po mayroon din tayong programa sa<\/em>\u00a0Board of Pardons and Parole\u00a0na hangga\u2019t maaari, palalayain na po natin iyong pinakamaraming numero ng mga kuwalipikado na mapalaya na para nga po maibsan iyong siksikan na kundisyon sa ating mga kulungan dahil kung siksikan, wala pong<\/em>\u00a0social distancing (There is an isolation facility given by the ICRC and of course there is a program under the Board of Pardons and Parole which allows for the release of a large number of qualified inmates to minimize crowding in our jails because if there\u2019s crowding, there\u2019s no social distancing),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is also providing isolation facilities for detainees in their respective areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cNagbukas din po ang<\/em>\u00a0DILG\u00a0ng mga<\/em>\u00a0isolation facilities\u00a0para doon sa mga<\/em>\u00a0detainees\u00a0na nagti-<\/em>test\u00a0nang<\/em>\u00a0positive\u00a0at nakikipag-ugnayan din po sa ating hukuman para mapabilis po iyong pagpapalaya o pagpapa-dismiss sa mga kaso na pupuwede nang ma-dismiss nang sa ganoon mas kakaunti na po ang mga nasa<\/em>\u00a0detention facilities (The DILG opened isolation facilities for detainees who tested positive and they also coordinate with the courts to speed up their release or dismissal of cases so that there would be fewer inmates inside detention facilities),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also said inmates are also guaranteed of undergoing Covid-19 testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cPagdating po doon sa<\/em>\u00a0testing,\u00a0isinasagawa po iyan dahil iyan po ang dahilan kung bakit naabatan iyong mas malawakan pang pagkalat ng<\/em>\u00a0Covid\u00a0sa ating mga kulungan<\/em>\u00a0(When it comes to testing, we\u2019re doing that because that\u2019s the reason why we were able to prevent the spread of Covid in our jails),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On the possibility of providing electronic visitations for detainees, Roque said the matter would have to be raised before the DOJ and Bureau of Corrections.<\/p>\n

Currently, all detention facilities are off-limits to visitors except food deliveries.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, he said quarantine violators will still face detention despite congestion in jails.<\/p>\n

\u201cPagdating po sa<\/em>\u00a0quarantine violators\u00a0at<\/em>\u00a0political arrest,\u00a0kinakailangan po ipatupad ang batas<\/em>\u00a0(When it comes to quarantine violators and political arrest, we have to implement the law),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 From decongesting penitentiaries to administering coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) tests, the national government is working to ensure the safety …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":263287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270608,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270607\/revisions\/270608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}