The Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC), Integrated Bar of the Philippines -Cebu Province Chapter (IBPCPC), and the Humanitarian Legal Assistance Foundation (HLAF) crafted a memorandum of agreement to provide paralegal help to CPDRC inmates yesterday.
CPDRC jail consultant Marco Toral said the agreement will address decongestion at the CPDRC and give priority to 186 overstaying inmates. The jail currently houses 2,500 inmates.
IBPCPC president Gonzalo Malig-on Jr. said they will provide lawyers and volunteers who will follow up on the cases of the overstaying inmates.
They will also meet with the prosecutors, judges, and the public attorney’s office to find ways to speed up the resolution of the cases.
Malig-on said they have also tapped a school to help in creating a database for records of provincial inmates as CPDRC is still recording data manually./UP Cebu Intern Mary Claire U. Catado