The Bureau of Corrections eyes developing penal farms all over the Philippines to address the problem of food security, BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said on Thursday.
"We are authorized to put prison and penal farm all over the country. Ang nakalimutan kasi nila — nung mga previous administration, panay prison but penal farm, hindi nila nadevelop," Catapang said.
Catapang added that BuCor will make sure that it will become the food basket of the future.
In July this year, Department of Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban and Department of Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez signed a memorandum of agreement for the Reformation Initiative for Sustainable Environment for Food Security (RISE Project).
RISE Project will make use of the Bureau of Corrections penal colony in Iwahig, Puerto Princesa for agricultural production.
According to Catapang, the "last objective" of the bureau is to gain the respect of the Filipino people.
"Just imagine if all the regions we have a penal farm, we can address the problem of food security," he said.
"They [would] know ang magpapakain sa kanila in the future will be the PDLs (persons deprived of liberty)," he continued.