This came out following the statement made by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre during the congressional hearing recently about the alleged illicit drug activities at the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City.
“The national government is abandoning the plan of the previous administration to build the P50.18-billion state-ofthe- art New Bilibid Prison inside the Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation…,” the secretary said during the hearing covered live by television and radio.
“The cost and transfer of the building is too high and is, therefore, not practical,” he was quoted as further saying.
The projected transfer of the NBP to Barangay Nazareth within the military reservation in Gen. Tinio town was started during the previous administration. It was given a green light by the National Economic and Development Authority after it was endorsed by the Regional Development Council- Region III (RDC-3).
It was to be carried out under the public-private partnership scheme as an undertaking of the Department of Justice and Bureau of Corrections.
Supposed to be transferred to the proposed Nueva Ecija NBP are 20,000 inmates from the prison facilities in Muntinlupa City and 2,000 from the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City.
Under the plan, the Muntinlupa penitentiary, valued at P42 billion, would be converted into a mixed-used commercial area.
Aguirre also intimated that bidders from the private sector are reluctant because there is no visualized big income from this project.
“The cost of the transfer (of the NBP) is prohibitive. We will just refurbish the 551-hectare prison in Muntinlupa City,” he said.
Among those “saddened” by the scrapping of the NBP transfer to Nueva Ecija were workers, entrepreneurs, businessmen and others who were expecting to earn much from the project. Businessmen said that one big reason for the rise of the former Muntinlupa town to a city, where many businesses, subdivision and many establishments fl ourished in the area, was because of the NBP there.
“The scrapping of the planned transfer of the bilibid to Nueva Ecija meant a lot for businessmen, laborers, farmers, and others in particular and our province in general,” said Dr. Reynatyo Arimbuyutan, chapter president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Nueva Ecija. “It could have opened packages of commerce and economies in terms of food production, lodging places, transport services, manual services for construction, and even tourism,” he added.
He said the place where it was supposed to be established was near an undeveloped tourism area which is Minalungao Park. Speculators for relevant businesses in the area in Gen. Tino and nearby towns and cities were downhearted, he added.
Arimbuyutan was a member of the RDC-3 that endorsed the transfer of NBP to the Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation.
During the public hearing here called by former Gov. Aurelio Umali amid concerns over environmental and socio- economic impacts of the proposed NBP transfer to the province, it was said that some 40,000 workers will be hired for the construction works. In addition, the facilities will need some 4,800 custodial and rehabilitation officers and 9,000 people for prison maintenance.
It was also pointed out that production of foods and other needs of the prisoners will provide a boom, to farmers particularly. Other benefit expected is that “it will turn the province of Nueva Ecija from a sleeping tourism giant into a tourist mecca once the penitentiary is completed”.
Many others in the province said then, however, that the province may have unwanted troubles once the NBP operates in the province. For one, they feared that illicit drug trade may proliferate inside the prison facility and its environs.
