MANILA — Less than one percent of those jailed for illegal drugs are manufacturers, and most are only small-time peddlers or users, a Sandiganbayan associate justice said Saturday as the government assesses the country’s penal system to address overcrowding.

According to Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) Director Ruel Rivera, most persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) are drug offenders, accounting for around 70% of the jail population.

Citing 2023 data from the BJMP, Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Karl Miranda said that of 123,000 PDLs detained for drugs, about 57,687 or 47 percent were charged with selling, trading, distributing or transporting small amounts.

• Sandiganbayan justice hopes lower bail to indigents will work to decongest jails

Around 49,187 or 40 percent were charged for possession or use of illegal drugs, he added.

“Takbo tayo nang takbo trying to catch raindrops. Bakit hindi isarado ‘yong poso?” Miranda remarked, noting that only 107 or less than one percent of drug prisoners were charged for manufacturing.

Miranda urged law enforcers to focus on the quality of arrest instead of the quantity as among the measures to decongest prison facilities.

Rivera said jail facilities are designed to hold around 56,000 PDLs, but there are 122,000 currently detained.

• BJMP says jail congestion rate down to 358 percent

DECONGESTION EFFORTS

In a separate press briefing in Malacañang on Friday, Justice Assistant Secretary Mico Clavano said the DOJ may recommend nearly 1,000 PDLs to be granted executive clemency this holiday season as part of prison decongestion efforts.

The government, in cooperation with the Supreme Court and various stakeholders, is spearheading a jail decongestion summit in Manila on December 6 and 7 to come up with comprehensive analysis of the penal system in a bid to address prison congestion.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., as well as Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Speaker Martin Romualdez, are expected to attend the summit.

Clavano said there will be three proposed activities and strategies during the summit, including reducing prison admissions, increasing the release of inmates upon completion of their sentences and expanding jail facility capacity