Manila, Philippines — Mamamayang Liberal Partylist Representative Leila De Lima is currently pushing for House Bill No. 10136, or the Medical Parole Act, in the House of Representatives for Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs).
Under the proposed measure, qualified PDLs suffering from illnesses and permanent disabilities will be given the opportunity to continue serving their sentences while receiving medical treatment outside prison facilities, allowing them to obtain better medical care and support from their families.
In the lawmaker’s explanatory note, medical parole will only be granted to PDLs based on medical humanitarian grounds and will undergo a thorough evaluation by the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP).
PDLs must be suffering from a terminal illness, meaning their life expectancy has been assessed to be one year or less due to an incurable disease or condition.
They may also qualify for medical parole if they are determined to have medical or physical conditions that permanently prevent them from taking care of themselves.
While imprisonment indicates that a person has committed an offense or crime, De Lima said this should not disregard their rights or justify the denial of humane treatment, especially for prisoners suffering from severe or incurable illnesses.
Once enacted into law, the measure could also help expand available space inside the country’s correctional facilities.
She cited reports indicating that the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) is experiencing around 70% congestion among PDLs, equivalent to about 200,000 inmates, despite facilities having a capacity of only around 41,000.
Many of these individuals, she added, reportedly die while still inside detention facilities.
Meanwhile, aside from De Lima, similar measures were also filed in the 20th Congress by Negros Occidental 3rd District Representative Javier Benitez, Benguet Lone District Representative Eric Yap, ACT-CIS Partylist Representative Edvic Yap, and Senator Erwin Tulfo.—Vanessa Cleofas, Eurotv News