QC TO START CONSTRUCTION OF NEW CITY JAIL NEXT YEAR

Quezon City is to start next year the construction of new jail to house more than a thousand detainees waiting for final court decision on their case.

Quezon City Mayor Herbert M. Bautista has given the “green light” for allocation of funds for the purchase of lot for the project in the 2012 City Budget.

Bautista directed city budget head Marian Orayani to include in the next annual budget an allocation of P33 million for the lot purchase in order to finally address the congestion problem at the city jail at the Bernardo Park in Barangay Kamuning.

The Mayor said that House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. had assured the QC government of financial assistance amounting to P75 million or up to P80 million for the project.

Mayor Bautista also had asked Bureau of Jail Management and Penology-Quezon City Jail Warden Sr. Supt. Joseph Vela to inquire from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) if there is fund allocation from the national government that could be utilized to augment the budget allotted by the city for the purpose.

Earlier, the BJMP-Real Property Division Directorate for Logistics revealed that their agency had incorporated in their 2009 program a P200 million fund for decongestion of Metro Manila detention cells including those in CAMANAVA and southern Metro Manila.

CAMANAVA had already built new detention cell facilities costing P50 million, the same with southern Metro Manila which has a P40 million jail project located in Taguig.

BJMP had earlier submitted a plan and proposal for the new QC jail to the QC Hall-Special Design Group (SDG). Maureen Quiñones, PAISO