Mandaue City Jail PDLs can bond with families on Christmas, New Year

This is a facade of the new BJMP-Mandaue building in Dungguan, Barangay Basak, Mandaue City. | BJMP-Mandaue

MANDAUE CITY, Philippines — Inmates or Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) inside the Male Dormitory of the Mandaue City Jail can bond with their families on Christmas Day and the New Year.

This is after the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology BJMP in Mandaue City (BJMP Mandaue) decided to hold special visitation of PDLs on those days.

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Lawyer Jonathan Baltar, jail superintendent of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Mandaue City, said that supposedly, the visiting days would not include Sunday and Monday but because Christmas and New Year would fall on these days, they would hold special visitation on those days.

The special visitation is from December 24 and 25 and December 31 and January 1. The male dormitory has over 1,500 population.

Baltar said in an interview with CDN Digital on Friday, December 22, that PDLs would be divided into quadrants. 

Other quadrants would occupy the visiting area in the morning while some are scheduled in the afternoon.

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“Humanitarian consideration, macelebrate nila holidays sa family, Amo gani gibuhat nga earlier ang dalaw, magsugod mi alas 7 pa (morning) bahala na maabot ta alas 6 (evening) just to accommodate them,” said Baltar.

(This is for humanitarian consideration, they can celebrate the holidays with their family. We even made the start of the visits earlier, it will start at 7  (in the morning), we don’t care if it will reach 6 (in the evening) just so we can accommodate them.)

Relatives of inmates, who cannot afford physical visits due to distance, time, and monetary constraints, can still do online visitation.

Baltar said that they already listed PDLs who would like to avail of the electronic visitation (e-dalaw).

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“Mangita gyud mi og paagi nga ma-accommodate ang ila’ng family kay luoy man sad. Mingaw sila magcelebrate sa pasko nga layo ka sa imo’ng pamilya,” said Baltar.

(We will find ways to accommodate their family because we pity them. It is really very lonely if they celebrate Christmas away from their families.)

Moreover, Baltar said that all their personnel will report for work on Christmas and New Year.

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