The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) has prohibited public utility vehicles (PUVs) from entering the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) Reservation in Muntinlupa City as a preventive measure against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Under the guidelines, only BuCor employees and their dependents are allowed to enter the NBP main gate and Daang Hari gate, and they need to present valid IDs.
Visitors can enter only through the NBP main gate while the gate at the Southville 3 housing project inside the reservation is closed to pedestrian traffic.
“Persons with no official business inside the NBP and just using the NBP area as an access route towards other destination will not be allowed to enter,” according to the guidelines posted by the BuCor Public Information Office.
For vehicles, only those with 2020 decals (motorcycles and four-wheel) belonging to BuCor employees will be allowed to enter the NBP main ang Daang Hari gates.
“Private vehicles going to Katarungan Village and Southville will not be allowed to pass through the NBP area. Public Utility Vehicles (PUV) and tricycles will not be allowed to enter as well,” the order read.
The NBP Reservation, the area outside the main NBP prison facility, has schools, houses of BuCor employees and their families, and churches. Katarungan Village is a government housing project for employees of the Department of Justice (DoJ) and Muntinlupa City government.
According to BuCor, only vehicles and people going to Katarungan Village coming from NBP Reservation will be allowed to pass.
In addition, no private and passenger vehicles will be allowed to pass the Southville 3 gate except for government and emergency vehicles going to Bgy. Poblacion. BuCor also barred ambulant vendors from entering the reservation. Barangay Poblacion has offered free rides to affected residents of NBP and Southville 3.
The BuCor earlier barred visitors of prisoners at NBP and its prison and penal farms in the provinces. It also suspended visits from religious organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs),international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), foreign embassies and consulates and other humanitarian, educational, business or political missions. (Jonathan Hicap)
