The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) is implementing a P2.6-billion upgrade of the Quezon City Jail to address its overpopulation.
The present city jail building has a total capacity of 280 inmates, but it has almost 4,000 detainees as of last year.
The BJMP is yet to set the schedule of the bidding process, according to Chief Inspector Xavier Zolda, BJMP spokesman.
In a text message, Zolda said: “No specific date yet for the bidding [because it is] still in the process of preparing the document[s] for the four-story, [more than] P2.5-billion Quezon City Jail.”
The proposed new Quezon City Jail, which can accommodate a maximum of 8,000 detainees, is scheduled to be completed by 2019.
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Officer in Charge Eduardo M. Año issued a marching order that the project must be free from any form of graft and corruption, according to the department’s Public Information Office (PIO). It said Año’s marching order to the BJMP leadership, particularly the agency’s head Director Deogracias Tapayan, is to ensure that no one would earn whatever amount from the technical study of the project until the construction itself.
Zolda, likewise, told the BusinessMirror that the BJMP is working with the Quezon City government to ensure smooth implementation of the project.
The administration of Mayor Herbert M. Bautista donated a lot in Payatas, following the issuance of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of a Deed of Donation.
“It is inherent for both the QC [government] and BJMP to follow the procurement law. As long as its letters were followed, we are assured that no anomalies will happen. The BJMP and Quezon City government officials have been reminded through continuing education, like trainings on what is the right thing to do in a project,” Zolda explained.
At the same time, he made it clear that the technical study of the Quezon City Jail was done jointly by the BJMP engineers and the Quezon City Engineering Department.
This means that Tapayan’s original idea of hiring private engineers to conduct the technical study did not proceed, after it was opposed by a BJMP officer, who is known in the agency as knowledgeable in the field of engineering.
The official, who refused to be named in this story, told this journalist that the BJMP would spend huge amount of money if private engineers would conduct the technical study.
