Detention facility for flood control suspects to address medical concerns - DILG chief

Metro Manila, Philippines - The detention facility prepared for flood control scandal suspects has provisions for medical issues to avoid out-of-site confinement, Interior chief Jonvic Remulla said.

The secretary mentioned this during an inspection of the new Quezon City Jail with Independent Commission for Infrastructure Chairman Andres Reyes and Commissioner Rogelio Singson on Friday, Oct. 24.

Remulla said the facility would have an infirmary.

“Lalagyan namin lahat ng resuscitation machine. Kung dialysis kailangan, maglalagay kami ng dialysis machine. Kung kailangan nila ng heart monitoring equipment, maglalagay din kami. So wala ng excuse para sabihin nilang kailangang St. Lukes sila,” he said.

[Translation: We will provide all the necessary resuscitation machines. If dialysis is needed, we will install a dialysis machine. If they need heart monitoring equipment, we will provide that as well. So there will be no excuse for them to say they need to go to St. Luke’s Medical center.]

Remulla said the city jail has 108 rooms, with 10 people per cell.

Singson, who is also an engineer, noticed that the facility is more decent compared to other city jails.

“Meron sariling CR, meron sariling running water, at saka may apat na bentilador kada cell,” he said.

[Translation: The facility has comfort rooms, running water, and there are four electric fans per cell.]

Remulla said the prison can accommodate up to a thousand suspects, and it is close to the Sandiganbayan, which is a requirement of the anti-graft court for easy access of suspects during trial.

Singson said the facility may not be enough to house all detainees by just looking at the hundreds of so-called ghost projects – those that were supposedly completed and paid but turned out to be non-existent.

“Isang kaso lang halimbawa, ilan ang involved diyan, sino-sino ‘yan kung may bid rigging pa iyan ang dami mong isasama riyan. Kada isa, sampu na lang minimum. So ilan ang pwedeng gumamit ng facility na ito? Kung 421 iyan edi times 10, kulang,” he said.

[Translation: For just one case, for example - how many people are involved there, and who are they? If there’s even bid rigging involved, you’ll have to include a lot more people. For each one, let’s say a minimum of 10. So how many would be using this facility? If there are 421 of them, then times 10 - it’s not enough.]