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DILG wants transfer of fire protection, jail management to LGUs

DESPITE opposition by mayors and governors, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) is seeking to devolve jail management and fire protection functions from the national to the local levels.

This was disclosed by Marius Corpus, DILG undersecretary, during a hearing by the committees on public order and illegal drugs, local government, and finance. But Len Sicat of the League of Cities of the President said municipal and city mayors were opposed to the proposed devolution if it would not be funded by the national government.

Jail Chief Superintendent Antonio Cruz of the BJMP instead proposed that the devolution be phased according to the capability of the local government units (LGUs).

60,041 inmates in various municipal and city jails were still under the BJMP while 27,522 have been placed under the management of the provinces and sub-provinces, Cruz added. Cruz noted that while BJMP inmates got a food allowance of P40 per capita per day, LGU inmates got between P15 and P55. He added that jail guards’ training in LGUs were not uniform.

Corpus admitted to the wide disparity between the management in jails controlled by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and those by LGUs, but also revealed the executive department’s plan to devolve fire protection and create a single national commission on public safety.

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