Families of political prisoners incarcerated at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) as well as human rights advocates held a protest at the Department of Justice (DOJ) to demand immediate action on the reported loss of millions of pesos from a trust fund holding monies deposited by Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL) and their families.
Around P6.4 million out of a total of P13 million remain unaccounted for. The funds, which come from remittances of families of PDLs as well as income earned by the PDLs from selling handicrafts, are crucial to the PDLs who need to purchase food and other basic necessities as well as medicines.
“So far, however,” said Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general, “the PDLs have not been allowed to access even the funds that came in after the trust fund anomaly was disclosed in the first week of August. The restrictions are also preventing the PDLs from sending their hard-earned money to support their families.”
The protesters demanded that the DOJ, which oversees the CIW through the Bureau of Corrections (Bucor), take decisive steps to ensure that the missing funds are returned. “The CIW and Bucor should provide immediate relief in the interim to the affected PDLs pending the return of the missing funds,” added Palabay. “It is cruel to make them wait indefinitely for the results of an internal audit or court proceeding to recover money held on their behalf.”
“We support the PDLs’ call for the abolition of the trust fund in its present form, which has been shown to be a system without transparency, with weak oversight and where PDLs have limited access to records. It is a system apparently created to provide opportunities for corruption,” added Palabay.
“The central message is simple,” said Palabay. “The PDLs’ money must be returned, the system that enabled opacity must end, and any replacement must be transparent, with adequate and credible oversight mechanisms and designed around promoting the rights and dignity of Persons Deprived of Liberty.”