BILIBID OR NOT

A Malacanang plan (which fizzled out) to relocate the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa should be pushed through without delay. The 500-hectare national penitentiary, if sold at the current real estate prices, should raise an amount that will go a long way in easing the government's financial woes. Besides, the national penitentiary has become an incongruity in an area that has become highly urbanized. Most of the country's economic and political elites have for some time now already relocated to the plush villages there, especially at the Ayala Alabang Subdivision. But then again, one is also reminded of a number of residents there with their illegally-acquired wealth. Too close for comfort you say?

A small portion of the proceeds from the sale of the New Bilibid could be used to establish another national penitentiary, which could incorporate new trends in penology, and would ease fears of residents in nearby areas about breakouts of hardened convicts who take peace-loving citizens as hostages when cornered by pursuing lawmen.

The transfer of the national penitentiary to a faraway site should also help boost the Calabarzon economic growth area being pushed by the government, embracing the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon. The vacated site (if ever) would be ideal for a modern light industrial and commercial zone, with a university, museum and eco-parks. Hence, if sold to a private entity, the local Muntinlupa City government can work hand in hand with the new owners in developing the area to ensure maximum benefits for residents of Muntinlupa.

(Image from http://www.wikimedia.org/)