The Bureau of Corrections has released 44 inmates from the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan.
BuCor Director General Benjamin delos Santos ordered their release during his visit to the IPPF. It was the sixth and final leg of his visit to various prisons and penal farms in the country.
Delos Santos said that the 44 inmates had been languishing in prison even though they have served their sentences.
He said that their release was facilitated after he created a special task force to determine overstaying inmates in various prisons as part of efforts to decongest the country’s jails.
Because of the task force, the BuCor was able to free 234 inmates from the Leyte Prison and Penal Farm and another 34 from the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Min-doro last month.
Delos Santos expressed his intention to make the IPPF more productive.
He observed “the agricultural potential of IPPF for rice, coffee, and fruit-bearing trees considering a vast 23 hectare reservation.”
“Ecotourism is also being planned as part of income generation both for the PDLs (persons deprived of liberty) and BuCor,” Delos Santos said.
The BuCor intends to put up more facilities at the IPPF that could accommodate 30,000 inmates. (Jeffrey G. Damicog)
