The Department of Budget and Management did not grant the request of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) for an allocation to decongest the country's prisons.
During a hearing on the DOJ budget in 2024 before the House Committee on Appropriations, Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla stated that the request to increase the budget for food and medicine for prisoners was also denied, as reported by Milky Rigonan on DZRH's Damdaming Bayan.
For the time being, the sustenance stipend is P70 pesos, while medicines are P15 pesos, but the DOJ-BuCor has asked for P130 pesos from the DBM.
According to Remulla, the DBM did not provide them with a large portion of the budget that the agency required.
With the requested budget, it involves alleviating the problem of jail overcrowding under BuCor, which has reached 383%.
The DOJ requested P23 billion in order to construct new facilities or jails and decongest the Persons Deprived of Liberty; however, the DBM did not have this amount available.

Meanwhile, the proposed budget of the DOJ in 2024 is 34.48 billion pesos.

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DBM rejects BuCor, DOJ’s budget increase request for inmates