MANILA – The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) has appealed to Congress to double the daily medical allowance of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) from ₱15 to ₱30 per inmate, citing the need to improve healthcare services in correctional facilities.

In a news release on Thursday, BuCor said Director General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. made the appeal to Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, during the hearing on the proposed 2026 budget of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its attached agencies last Tuesday.

Catapang stressed that the increase is necessary to enhance the welfare and medical support provided to inmates across the country.

He also told Gatchalian that BuCor is pushing for the passage of a medical parole bill that would institutionalize a system allowing the release of elderly PDLs aged 70 and above and those who are medically incapacitated, based on humanitarian grounds and international best practices.

“Elderly PDLs with chronic illnesses limit their ability to care for themselves and pose minimal risks to public safety,” Catapang said.

He added that the proposed measure would not only help decongest overcrowded prisons and penal farms nationwide but also ease the burden on the correctional system while recognizing the basic human rights of vulnerable inmates. (PNA)