NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) 
First Regular Session 
) 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez 
House Bill No.  _____ 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Under Section 61 of Republic Act 6975, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) 
shall exercise supervision and control over all city and municipal jails while the provincial jails 
shall be supervised and controlled by the provincial government within its jurisdiction. 
This set-up can cause confusion and makes it difficult to have an integrated approach to jail 
management. The BJMP will have to coordinate with each and every province in the country 
which may still result in different approaches for each provincial jail.  
Further, by transferring control and supervision of all jails in the country to the BJMP, there 
will only be 1 penal system and there will be a lesser chance that officials heading each jail 
will be subject to controls of political influence. There will also be uniformity in the training of 
jail personnel; livelihood projects; and educational and vocational trainings. This will also result 
in a more secure penal system which is professional and has uniformity in the implementation 
of plans and programs   
In view of the foregoing, immediate approval of this measure is earnestly requested. 
RUFUS B. RODRIGUEZ 
February 8, 2023
4:23 pm
7125


NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) 
First Regular Session 
) 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez 
House Bill No.  _____ 
AN ACT 
PLACING THE PROVINCIAL, SUB-PROVINCIAL AND DISTRICT JAILS UNDER THE 
JURISDICTION OF THE BUREAU OF JAIL MANAGEMENT AND PENOLOGY (BJMP), 
AMENDING SECTIONS 61, 62 AND 63 OF REPUBLIC ACT NUMBER SIXTY-NINE 
HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE "DEPARTMENT OF 
INTERIOR AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT OF 1990" AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES  
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled: 
SECTION 1. Section 61 of Republic Act No. 6975 is hereby amended to read as follows: 
Section 61. Powers and Functions. – The Jail Bureau shall exercise 
supervision and control over all PROVINCIAL, SUB-PROVINCIAL, 
DISTRICT, city and municipal jails. [The provincial jails shall be 
supervised and controlled by the provincial government within its 
jurisdiction, whose expenses shall be subsidized by the National 
Government for not more than three (3) years after the effectivity of 
this Act.] JAILS DO NOT INCLUDE DETENTION CENTERS AND 
LOCK-UP CELLS BEING MAINTAINED BY THE ARMED 
FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES (AFP), PHILIPPINE NATIONAL 
POLICE (PNP), NATIONAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (NBI) 
AND THE BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION (BI). 
SECTION 2. Section 62 of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows: 
Section 62. Organization. – The Jail Bureau shall be headed by a 
Chief who shall be assisted by [a deputy chief.] OTHER OFFICERS 
ENUMERATED IN SECTION 3 OF REPUBLIC ACT 9263 
OTHERWISE 
KNOWN 
AS 
THE 
“BUREAU 
OF 
FIRE 
PROTECTION AND BUREAU OF JAIL MANAGEMENT AND 
PENOLOGY PROFESSIONALIZATION ACT OF 2004”. 
The Jail Bureau shall composed of PROVINCIAL, SUB-
PROVINCIAL, DISTRICT, city and municipal jails, [each headed by 
a city or municipal jail warden]: Provided, That, in the case of large 
cities and municipalities, a district jail with subordinate jails headed 
by a district jail warden may be established as necessary. 
The Chief of the Jail Bureau shall recommended to the Secretary 
the organizational structure and staffing pattern of the Bureau as 
well as the disciplinary machinery for officers and men of the 
Bureau in accordance with the guidelines set forth herein and as 
prescribed in Section 85 of this Act. 
7125


SECTION 3. Section 63 of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:  
 
Section 63. Establishment of PROVINCIAL, SUB-PROVINCIAL, 
District, City or Municipal Jail. – There shall be established and 
maintained in every PROVINCE, district, city and municipality a 
secured, clean adequately equipped and sanitary jail for the 
custody and safekeeping of PROVINCIAL, city and municipal 
prisoners, any fugitive from justice, or person detained awaiting 
investigation or trial and/or transfer to the national penitentiary, 
and/or violent mentally ill person who endangers himself or the 
safety of others, duly certified as such by the proper medical or 
health officer, pending the transfer to a medical institution. 
 
The PROVINCIAL, SUB-PROVINCIAL, DISTRICT, municipal or 
city jail service shall preferably be headed by a graduate of a four 
(4) year course in psychology, psychiatry, sociology, nursing, social 
work, [or] criminology OR A LAW GRADUATE who shall assist in 
the immediate rehabilitation of individuals or detention of prisoners. 
Great care must be exercised so that the human rights of [this] 
THESE prisoners are respected and protected, and their spiritual 
and physical well-being are properly and promptly attended to. 
 
SECTION 4.  Provincial Jail Administrator, Sub-Provincial Jail Administrator. – The heads of 
the provincial and sub-provincial jails within the province shall have the rank of superintendent. 
The provincial jail administrator shall exercise supervisory control over the provincial, district, 
city and municipality jail in their respective provinces.  
 
SECTION 5. Authority of the Chief, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to Reorganize 
Provincial Jails. — The Chief, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology has the authority to 
reorganize existing provincial jails, including its offices and personnel; Provided, That in the 
exercise of this power, the services of the personnel assigned therein and holding a permanent 
appointment shall not be terminated.  
 
SECTION 6. Special Oversight Committee. — A Special Oversight Committee is hereby 
created, composed of the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government 
as Chairman, the Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management as Co-Chairman,   
and the Chief of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, the Chairman of the 
Commission on Audit and the President of League of Provinces as members, which shall plan 
and oversee the expeditious implementation of the transfer and absorption into the Bureau  of 
the property, appropriations and installations of the provincial and sub-provincial jails, subject 
to just compensation under appropriate terms and conditions.  
 
SECTION 7.  Appropriations. — The existing appropriation for the operation and maintenance 
of provincial jails shall, for the first of fraction therefore after enactment into law of this Act, 
continue to be so appropriated for the purpose. Thereafter the amount of two hundred fifty 
million (Php 250,000,000.00) for the operation and maintenance of the provincial and sub-
provincial jails by the BJMP shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.  
 
SECTION 8. Separability Clause. – If any provision of this Act shall be held unconstitutional 
or invalid, the other provisions not otherwise affected shall remain in full force effect. 
 
SECTION 9. Repealing Clause. – All laws, presidential decrees, executive orders, ordinances, 
rules and regulations, and other issuances or parts thereof which are inconsistent with this 
Act, are hereby repealed or modified accordingly. 
 


SECTION 10.  Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in 
the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation. 
 
Approved,