BuCor denies plea to lift ban on food, medicine deliveries to prisoners during ECQ in NCR+
The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) has denied the request to lift its suspension on the delivery of food and medicines to inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City during the period of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

“With due respect, the Bureau of Corrections maintains that the temporary suspension of delivery of items inside its facilities is in line with the provisions of the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases) Guidelines,” BuCor Chief Superintendent Victor Erick L. Pascua said in his reply to a letter sent online by Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim.
Kapatid, a support and advocacy group, has underscored the need to deliver food and medicine to inmates, particularly the elderly and the medically vulnerable.
It said the PDLs (persons derived of liberty) “need augmented nutritional, medical and hygiene provisions to give them a better chance of surviving the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) pandemic in congested and unsanitary jails.”
“It is a humble belief that the New Bilibid Prison through its Superintendents has discretion and prerogative to implement policy and procedures,” Pascua said in his reply.
BuCor imposed the ban when Metro Manila and its adjacent provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal were placed under ECQ until April 4.
Citing the amended Omnibus Guidelines on the Implementation of Community Quarantine in the Philippines, Pascua said the ECQ implements “temporary measures imposing stringent limitations on movement and transportation of people.”
“Further, it expresses Community Quarantine as restriction of movement within, into, or out of the area of quarantine of individuals, large groups of people, or communities, designed to reduce the likelihood of transmission of an infectious disease among persons in and to persons outside the affected area,” he said.