BJMP cites staffing, equipment gaps at Quezon City jail
Officials of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) told the Sandiganbayan Third Division on Thursday that the New Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory was facing shortages in personnel and equipment.
Jail Superintendent Maria Lourdes Pacion said there appeared to be a lack of personnel assigned to the facility.
She said the jail had only 24 nurses, limiting their ability to provide round-the-clock care to persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) who require constant medical attention.
Pacion cited the case of former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, whom she said she had allowed to have a personal assistant to attend to his “personal needs.”
Pacion stressed that the arrangement was not a privilege exclusive to Romualdez, recalling that she had previously allowed a PDL’s relative to look after a detainee who required special care.
Associate Justice Karl Miranda, chairperson of the Third Division, reiterated the need for jail facilities to report such deficiencies to the court so these could be brought to the attention of concerned government agencies, including the Department of Budget and Management.
Under normal circumstances, visitors are allowed to see detainees only during designated hours, with visits logged at the facility’s main gate.
Aside from staffing concerns, Pacion disclosed problems with the male dormitory’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) system.
Of the 424 CCTV cameras installed at the facility, at least 10 were no longer functioning. She also said no personnel had been specifically assigned to maintain the cameras.
Another concern was the surveillance system’s inability to record continuously because of a lack of a decoder, equipment that the facility had reportedly been requesting since last year.
Pacion added that only one person monitored the CCTV system at any given time, also citing the facility’s limited personnel.
During the same hearing, jail Medical Officer Dr. Henry Fabro said the facility also needed another ambulance, as it currently had only one.
Asked by Miranda why a second ambulance was necessary, Fabro said medical emergencies varied in nature and that a PDL might be unable to go to the hospital if the vehicle was already in use.
“The emergency cases are not predictable, that’s why I said maybe we could get one more ambulance,” he said.
Before the hearing concluded, Miranda directed Pacion and Fabro to return to court on Monday to provide additional information on Romualdez’s current detention status.
The Third Division held the hearing to address concerns over the former lawmaker’s alleged authorized trips in and out of prison, an allegation denied by both Pacion and the defense.
Romualdez was committed to the facility on 14 September over a pending plunder case involving his alleged accumulation of ₱7.44 billion in ill-gotten wealth from infrastructure projects between 2022 and 2025.