At least 400 persons deprived of liberty are set to cultivate tillable lands at the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan for the food security project of the government in line with the marching orders from the Department of Justice and Bureau of Corrections.

Corrections Technical Officer Public Information Office chief and IPPF spokesperson Levi Evangelista in an interview on Tuesday said that the PDLs will be the ones to prepare the lands comprising the project.

He added the initial cultivation and preparation of the 500 hectares of tillable land out of the 28,700 hectares property of IPPF has started a few days ago and this will be planted by high value crops.

Evangelista also said that IPPF Supt. Gary Garcia was ordered by BuCor director general Gregorio Catapang Jr. to start the project as per the guidance of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla.

"Initially, the 400 PDLs in Iwahig has started cultivation and land preparation for the project aiming to help in the food security of the country," Evangelista said.

Also, there was a memorandum of agreement with the private sector who will be part of the project to develop the wide-range project of planting crops in the said tillable land in IPPF.

Evangelista disclosed that even President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. along with Remulla and Catapang gave serious concern about the project to help in the food security of the country using the said lands in the jail facilities nationwide under BuCor.

To recall, the government signed an agreement on the use of tillable lands within the BuCor prison reservations and penal farms nationwide as "agricultural camps or food production centers" to help the country achieve food security.

The DA and the DoJ inked a memorandum of agreement on their joint project called "Reformation Initiative for Sustainable Environment for Food Security" or RISE, which Marcos said would help in both food production and improving rehabilitative justice practices for PDLs.