BuCor Director General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. – Photo courtesy of Philippine News Agency (PNA).
The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) is planning to construct a total of 15 new prison facilities across the country as part of a broad effort to modernize and decentralize the correctional system.
Corrections Director General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. said the proposal includes 13 regional detention centers and two separate facilities intended exclusively for persons convicted of heinous crimes.
“The time to act is now; for a just and rehabilitative correctional system to thrive, proactive measures must be taken to bridge the existing gaps,” Catapang said in a statement.
The planned expansion is anchored on the Bureau of Corrections Act of 2013, which mandates regional facilities, as well as the law requiring the establishment of standalone prisons for heinous crimes.
BuCor currently operates facilities in only five regions—National Capital Region, Mimaropa, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, and Davao—leaving most regions dependent on distant national prisons.
Under the proposal, BuCor intends to establish facilities in areas where it has no direct presence, including the Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Bicol, Western and Central Visayas, Negros Island Region, Northern Mindanao, Soccsksargen, Caraga, and the Bangsamoro region.
Catapang also said construction has begun on a Super Maximum Security Facility in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro, which is expected to house high-risk inmates once completed.