For years, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) detention facility in Bonuan, Dagupan City—only a few meters from the shoreline—has been criticized as a misplaced structure, the product of a rushed decision by both the local government and BJMP. Its location near the sea has long raised concerns, now magnified by overcrowding and environmental risks.Before the Bonuan jail was built, Dagupan’s inmates were confined in a cramped detention area wedged between City Hall and the Sangguniang Panlungsod building, enclosed by a high wire fence. Visitors to City Hall could not miss it. From the upper floors of the SP, one could clearly see the overcrowded cells below—an embarrassing and unsafe arrangement that demanded a permanent solution.During the presidency of Fidel V. Ramos, then Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. allocated funds for a new detention facility upon the request of the local government led by Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. BJMP was given the construction budget. At the same time, the city was tasked to donate a lot. For expediency, the town chose a parcel of land in Bonuan near the beach, owned by the former Presidential Assistant on Community Development (PACD), now under the Department of the Interior and Local Government.Once completed, inmates were transferred there, and the facility eventually became a district jail holding detainees not only from Dagupan but from neighboring towns in Pangasinan. Mayor Fernandez admitted he was not told beforehand that the facility would become a district jail.The result was predictable. A jail intended for Dagupan inmates alone grew nearly tenfold, severely straining its facilities and threatening nearby communities and the Lingayen Gulf. Successive mayors have since acknowledged the problem and sought to relocate the jail outside the city, but no town has been willing to host a district facility.San Fabian’s decision to build its own jail helped decongest Dagupan’s by about 40 percent, but this is only a partial fix. The real and lasting solution remains clear: the district jail must be moved out of Dagupan—away from the sea, and away from communities already bearing the cost of a long-standing planning= = =
Since no new revelations are coming out from the investigation in aid of legislation by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chaired by Senator Ping Lacson, it must now move to draft and finalize a committee report, just as the minority in the Senate did.
Or else, Senator Ping and all others in the majority bloc will just be wasting their time and saliva if the committee will persist to continue with its investigation without any new information coming out from the invited resource speakers.
Same thing with the Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI). Since there is only one Commissioner left—and that is retired Justice Andres Reyes—it must now be dissolved by the President pronto.