BuCor seeks P11.9B budget

The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) sought an allocation of approximately P11.9 billion under the fiscal year 2027 National Expenditure Program, representing a 9.6 percent increase from its P10.88-billion budget in 2026.

The proposed budget, according to BuCor Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr., will support personnel requirements, facility development, prison security, the transfer of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) to other penal facilities, and the modernization of correctional operations.

Catapang said the proposed allocation includes:

• P7.6 billion for personnel services;

• P3.7 billion for maintenance and other operating expenses; and

• P519.9 million for capital outlay.

He said the proposed budget reflects BuCor’s continuing efforts to address congestion, improve prison infrastructure, enhance personnel capabilities, and strengthen the security and accountability of correctional operations. It will also support the Bureau’s broader mandate to provide humane safekeeping and meaningful rehabilitation programs for PDLs.

Through investments in modern facilities, digital systems, livelihood programs, rehabilitation services, and personnel development, BuCor seeks to improve prison administration and help ensure the productive reintegration of former PDLs into their communities.

BuCor has an authorized plantilla of 10,425 positions, of which 9,831 are filled, leaving 725 vacant positions.

These include 592 positions for corrections officers, 108 for corrections technical officers, and 25 for civilian personnel.

The additional positions are intended to strengthen BuCor’s workforce and improve the ratio between correctional personnel and the PDL population.

Presently, the personnel-to-PDL ratio is one corrections officer for every 17 PDLs, or 1:17, and one corrections technical officer for every 120 PDLs, or 1:120. These figures remain above the ideal ratios of 1:7 for corrections officers and 1:24 for corrections technical officers prescribed under Republic Act No. 10575, Catapang said.

BuCor currently has 52,356 PDLs in facilities with a total capacity of 17,211, resulting in an occupancy rate of approximately 305 percent and a congestion rate of about 204 percent.

At the New Bilibid Prison, the Bureau’s main corrections facility, congestion was reduced from 313 percent in 2022 to 40.58 percent this year following the transfer of more PDLs to other operating prisons and penal farms nationwide. The transfers are intended to improve custodial conditions and strengthen correctional and rehabilitation programs.

Catapang also said the capital outlay program includes funding for the first-year requirement of the multiyear construction of a super maximum-security facility in Curuan, Zamboanga. The project will begin with the construction of a Level 1 PDL dormitory with a capacity of 500 PDLs.

BuCor’s mission is to implement effective safekeeping and institute holistic reformation programs for PDLs, thereby contributing to the establishment of a just and peaceful society.