According to government figures, the number of prisoners is four times higher than the planned capacity, making the Philippines, along with countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Uganda, one of the most overcrowded prison systems in the world.
But now the government, with the support of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is trying to reduce the nuisance by, among other things, giving priority to the release of older prisoners.
Toto Aquino, 70, spoke to Daniel Dickinson of UN News at his home in the Pandacan neighborhood of the capital Manila.
“I was released two weeks ago and I feel good. I spent eight years in prison, four years in pretrial detention in Manila City Jail and four years after I was sentenced, in Bilibid Prison.
It was very crowded and I slept on a piece of cardboard in a corridor in Bilibid for those four years. I was in a high security wing, 4C-2, next to gang members, but I was not a gang member myself. There is a hierarchy in gangs and so I did not have a good place to sleep.
We had to go to our sleeping quarters at 6pm every day and wake up at 4am. Every day I ate porridge, coffee, bread and rice and sometimes hot dogs. This is farm food, the food that prisoners get from the prison kitchen. You can also buy other food, but I didn’t have the money, so I survived farm.
UNODC/Laura Gil
The Philippines’ detention centers are among the busiest in the world.
It feels good to be free! I live with my younger brother in the house where I grew up with my five siblings. Life is very different now because I can eat and sleep whenever I want. I have a comfortable bed and my own room and my brother cooks delicious food.
In prison I dreamed of chicken adobo (Filipino chicken stew) and a soft mattress and today I have both; sleeping and eating are now my joy.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson
Since I was released from prison, I have been living at home. I feel comfortable here. I sit on a stool outside my door and watch the neighborhood go by.
I grew up here so I know my neighbors. I sometimes sweep the yard and burn the trash and I still do 15 push-ups several times a day, which I started doing in prison to stay fit.
I haven’t seen my daughter in ten years. She lives in another part of the country and I hope to see her soon because she is pregnant with her second child.
“I think it’s important that convicted people serve their sentences, but I also think that the release of old people like me should be a priority. I was released with other older prisoners, but I know men who are 75 years old and are still in prison.”
