Congress Proposes for a “High Profile Detention Center”



On Wednesday, June 18, 2014, the Manila Bulletin reported that members of the House of Representatives propose for a creation of a high profile detention center.

A photo taken from google.com.
 
House Bill (HB) No. 1360 or the “High Profile Detention Center Act of 2013” would create a separate detention center for “high criminals” but the proponents of said bill were quick to comment that such proposal won’t accord undue special treatment for the accused.

AKO-BICOL Party-list Representative Rodel Batocabe and ACT-CIS Party-list Representative Samuel Pagdilao defended the salient features of the said bill at a news forum held at the House of Representative on Tuesday.

“High profile cases” as the defined in the said bill, they refer to those that have attracted attention and publicity by reason of the relative position of the parties in society, cases imbued with public interest or cases which involve national security and safety.

“It would cover sensational incidents like multi-billion peso pork barrel scam or the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, both of which implicate influential people and powerful government officials”, the lawmakers said.

If it would be realized, accordingly, it would prevent the current practice of resorting to temporary holding centers like Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna (in the case of the alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles) or Camp Crame (for some Maguindanao massacre suspects) insofar as high profile cases is concerned.

Batocabe added that segregating high-profile detention prisoners from ordinary ones makes sense since reality dictates that the former are subject to high risk.

Pagdilao, a vice chairman of the House Public Order and Safety Committee, clarified that while the envisioned detention center would house all accused of high profile crimes under one roof, they would still be “separated by walls” or held inside individual cells.

He further said that it is truly a detention cell.  There can be no air-conditioning or a refrigerator inside, alluding to common notions of benefits supposedly given to jailed VIPs (very important prisoners).

Pagdilao even said that in other countries, they have separated perpetrators of high-profile cases from other prisoners.

“Once this bill becomes a law, it will be very clear for the judge, who is the ultimate authority, to decide which jail facility or what category that person would be detained at”, Pagdilao concluded.

Sourced from the report written by Ellson A. Quismorio in Manila Bulletin on June 18, 2014.

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