The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) reported on Thursday that the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) procured a total of P46.1 million worth of fresh, high-quality, and locally grown produce directly from farmers to provide healthier meals for persons deprived of liberty (PDLs).

The initiative is made possible through the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (EPAHP), a convergence program between the BJMP and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) aimed at mitigating hunger, ensuring food and nutrition security, and reducing poverty in both urban and rural communities, including the country’s 167,000 PDLs nationwide.

The program aligns with the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to uphold the human rights of PDLs by improving their living conditions through measures such as jail decongestion and the provision of adequate and nutritious food.

By directly coordinating with the DAR, the BJMP has bypassed traditional middlemen and corporate suppliers, sourcing instead from agrarian reform beneficiary organizations (ARBOs), or farmer groups. This ensures that PDLs receive fresher, higher-quality food at lower cost, while providing farmers with a stable and reliable market.

According to the DILG, the program promotes more consistent nutrition for PDLs, empowers local farmers as sustainable agri-entrepreneurs, and allows government spending on PDL subsistence to be reinvested directly into local communities.

In 2025, Region IV-A recorded the highest volume of deliveries at over P12 million, followed by Region III with P9.9 million and Region IX with P4.2 million.

The department said the BJMP is committed to institutionalizing the partnership, with the goal of linking every jail facility nationwide to local ARBOs and strengthening its role as a dependable institutional market for the Philippine agricultural sector.