BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
An ordinance requiring persons deprived of liberty (PDL) to undergo COVID-19 testing before commitment or release from jail was passed by the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod on first reading Wednesday.
The ordinance authored by Councilor Al Victor Espino said that on March 16, 2020, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, recognizing that the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic constitutes a threat to national security, declared a State of Public Emergency throughout the Philippines through Proclamation No. 929.
Prisons and jails produce or reinforces a host of problems which are hygiene-related and even infectious disease, thereby creating the need for a mandatory testing of PDL’s to ensure the health safety of the city/municipality, it said.
The ordinance provides that it is mandatory for PDL’s to be tested for the COVID-19 prior to being committed into Bacolod City Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) facilities and all other jail and detention facilities within the territorial jurisdiction of Bacolod City, and, likewise, prior to being released from the same facilities.
Following the issuance of a commitment order by the proper court for the commitment of a PDL into the above-stated facilities, the PDL must undergo a mandatory COVID-19 testing to be conducted by the City Health Office (CHO), in addition to the medical examination requirement by the City Police Station, it said.
The City Police Station and CHO should agree on the schedule of testing. While the PDL is waiting for his/her COVID-19 test result, he/she will be detained at the detention facility designated by the City Police Station. Should the PDL be found positive for the COVID-19, he/she will be placed in the designated quarantine facility inside the city jail for isolation and treatment. Only when he/she is cleared by the CHO should he/she be permitted to be committed and enter the designated detention cells for PDL who have tested negative for COVD-19. Should the PDL be tested negative for COVID-19, he/she will immediately be committed in the designated detention cells for PDL’s who have tested negative for COVID-19, the ordinance said.
Before a PDL in the Bacolod City Jail can be released, he/she must undergo mandatory testing for COVID-19 to be conducted by the CHO inside the jail facility. Schedule of the test should be agreed by the BJMP and the CHO. Should the PDL be found positive for COVID-19, he/she will be placed in the designated Barangay Isolation Center (BIC) of the barangay where he/she resides as indicated in the official records, for isolation and treatment before he/she can be released to the community. If a PDL is a non-resident of Bacolod City, but a resident of nearby city or municipality, he/she will be sent to the quarantine facility designated by the City/Provincial Government for isolation and treatment. Should a PDL be tested negative for COVD-19, he/she can immediately be released to the community, with prior notice to the barangay captain of the barangay where he/she resides, it said.
The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in cooperation with the Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of Health (DOH), and City Health Office (CHO) are directed to enforce and follow the above-mentioned guidelines.
Should any provision of this Ordinance be declared by a court of competent jurisdiction as invalid or unconstitutional, the remaining provisions not otherwise adversely affected thereby shall remain in full force and effect, the ordinance added.*
