CPDRC jail personnel to stay-in to prevent COVID-19 exposure

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Jail personnel in the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) will already be housed inside the facility to prevent the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from penetrating the prison.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said that while the visiting rights have been suspended, the jail guards’ going home every day poses a threat to the CPDRC inmates that now counts to over 1,700.

“Adto na lang sila aron di na ma-exposed further ang atong mga inmates nga naa sa sulod sa CPDRC tungod sa pag-report-uli, report uli [sa mga jail guards],” Garcia said.

(They will be staying inside so that they will not pose further exposure to the inmates as they go home and report for work every day.)

Garcia said she will ask CPDRC Warden Reynaldo Valmoria to find a space inside the facility that can be converted to serve as living quarters for the personnel that they will host there.

Garcia made the announcement following the confirmation of 123 new COVID-19 cases in Cebu City Jail which sits right across CPDRC in Barangay Kalunasan.

The governor earlier ordered jail officers who reside in barangays that have COVID-19 cases to already cease working.

Garcia also assured the relatives of the inmates in CPDRC that the detainees are well and good and that the jail administrators are doing their best to prevent the penetration of the infection in the provincial jail.

“We are doing the best that we can… Naningkamot gyud ta nga dili matakdan ang atong mga inmates. Regular ang atong pag-disinfect ug sila usab nga mga inmates, atong gitagaan og time nga maka-exercise,” Garcia said.

(We are trying hard to prevent the inmates from contracting the virus. We regularly disinfect their cells and we allow them to exercise. )

“Inside, okay ra sila basta wala lay carrier. Okay ra ilang pagkabutang didto. They have good food,” she added. /rcg