BuCor lobbies for Asean prisoner swap

February 16, 2025 | 12:00am

Puerto Princesa City , Philippines —  Following the transfer of drug convict Mary Jane Veloso from Indonesia to the Philippines last year, the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) is pushing for the adoption of a policy that would allow individuals imprisoned in any Southeast Asian country to be repatriated to their home countries to serve their sentences.

The proposed policy was among the key measures discussed during the second Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Correctional Conference yesterday.

Arranging agreements that enable foreign nationals incarcerated abroad to serve their prison terms in their home countries “is the way to go,” said BuCor director general Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr.

He noted that a similar policy is being implemented in the European Union.

“Hopefully one of the outputs of this conference is for ASEAN to agree that if there’s an imprisoned Filipino in ASEAN countries, we can get them back,” Catapang said in Filipino and English.

Such measures could be institutionalized through legislation passed by both houses of Congress, he added.

Currently, the Philippines and Malaysia are the only ASEAN member-states advocating for this policy, according to Mildred Bernadette Alvor of the Department of Justice (DOJ)’s legal division.

The Philippines has existing bilateral agreements on the transfer of sentenced persons (TSP) with Hong Kong, Thailand, Canada and Spain, while similar agreements with the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates are in the finalization stage, Alvor noted.

She emphasized that the Philippine Constitution allows the country to “adopt general objectives and principles of international law as part of the law of the land,” provided there is concurrence by a majority or two-thirds of Congress.

Through the DOJ, the Philippines has been actively advocating for bilateral agreements on TSP to facilitate the repatriation of sentenced persons.

This initiative aligns with the country’s goal of administering restorative justice by allowing incarcerated individuals to serve their sentences closer to their families and within familiar cultural and linguistic environments.

During a plenary session with Alvor, an official from Indonesia’s corrections agency recounted the country’s experience in repatriating Veloso.

Convicted of drug trafficking in Indonesia in 2010, Veloso was transferred to the Philippines in mid-December 2024 through a bilateral agreement between the two nations.

The story of Veloso was met with applause and gratitude from the 93 ASEAN delegates in attendance, with Alvor thanking Indonesia for its cooperation in facilitating Veloso’s repatriation.

Veloso is currently serving the remainder of her sentence at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong.

Recommended