Yamsuan backs DOJ plan on BuCor-BJMP merger

Representative Brian Raymund Yamsuan said a proposal by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to unify the operations of the country’s penal institutions is a “step in the right direction” towards decongesting overpopulated detention facilities and converting these into true places of rehabilitation for persons deprived of liberty (PDLs).

In expressing his full support for the DOJ plan, Yamsuan pointed out that this would also lead to greater efficiency and accountability in the management of the country’s correctional system.

“The DOJ proposal to integrate the operations of the country’s detention and penal facilities, if correctly implemented, is a major step in reforming our fragmented correctional system,” Yamsuan said.

“This defective system needs to be corrected soon before it further worsens detrimental living conditions and ineffective rehabilitation strategies for PDLs, and exacerbates the already exhausting and stressful workloads of jail officers,” added Yamsuan, a former assistant secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

The DILG oversees the operations of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), which manages the country’s city, district and municipal jails housing pre-trial PDLs and those serving sentences of three years or less. The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), on the other hand, supervises penal facilities across the country for convicted persons with longer sentences.

Yamsuan said the DOJ plan, which involves the merger of the two agencies, would help streamline resource allocations to ensure adequate funding for every detention facility in the country.

This, in turn, would lead to better living conditions and effective rehabilitation programs for PDLs, said Yamsuan, a staunch advocate of correctional reform.

“On top of all these positive changes, merging the BJMP and BuCor would also improve the monitoring of cases of PDLs to ensure that they are released immediately and not detained beyond their prescribed time behind bars,” Yamsuan added.

BuCor Director Gen. Gregorio Catapang Jr. disclosed the DOJ plan on the possible BuCor-BJMP merger on the sidelines of the 2nd ASEAN Regional Correctional Conference held last week in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

Catapang said the plan, which has been endorsed by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, could be implemented possibly through an executive order. But he said a law would still be required to fully unify the BuCor and BJMP, especially in terms of budget allocation.

Yamsuan said a bill he filed in 2023–House Bill 8672–aims to achieve the DOJ’s planned BJMP-BuCor merger, and goes a step further by integrating all other agencies involved in the correctional system through the creation of a Department of Corrections and Jail Management (DCJM).

Under HB 8672, the BuCor, Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP), and the Parole and Probation Administration (PPA) which are all under the DOJ; the BJMP of the DILG; and the correctional and jail services of the provincial governments will be placed under the DCJM.

Yamsuan’s call for widespread reforms in the country’s correctional system has earned the support of fellow lawmakers in the House of Representatives. HB 8672, however, has remained pending in the House Committee on Government Reorganization. The bill has also been secondarily referred to the Committee on Justice and the Committee on Public Order and Safety, where Yamsuan is both a member.

With the 19th Congress set to end on July 27, 2025, there would be no time to deliberate on and pass the measure. Yamsuan’s bill would have to be refiled in the next Congress.

Yamsuan, who proposed HB 8672 as the representative of the Bicol Saro Partylist in the 19th Congress, vowed to re-file the bill once he succeeds in securing a congressional seat as representative of Parañaque’s 2nd District in the May midterm elections.

This week, Yamsuan is set to visit the Parañaque City Jail, which based on the BJMP’s latest available data, is one of the most overcrowded detention facilities in the country.

Across the country, the total congestion rate of BJMP-supervised jails fell from 335 percent in January 2024 to 303 percent by yearend.

BuCor’s congestion rate was 248 percent last year, an improvement from the 332 percent it reported in 2023.