A scabies outbreak is infesting the National Bilibid Prison (NBP), political support group reported, urging penal authorities to allow the delivery of medicines for affected inmates.
In a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) dated March 9, KAPATID spokesperson asked acting secretary Fredderick Vida permission to deliver anti-scabies medication, noting that the ailment appears spreading in the facility.
“Skin infections consistent with scabies appear to be spreading in (NBP) amid severe overcrowding and a continuing water shortage,” the group said, adding it learned of the outbreak from political prisoners through recent visits.
KAPATID said it urged action by the DOJ “on humanitarian concerns affecting several political prisoners, including access to medicines and long-pending transfer requests.”
The DOJ is the supervisory department over the Bureau of Corrections which manages the NBP.
KAPATID spokesperson Fides Lim said that in a March 2 visit at the Reception and Diagnostic Center (RDC), political prisoner Joemar Reyes pleaded directly with Lim: “Ma’am, ipalipat niyo na po ako. May krisis dito — walang tubig. Nahahawa na rin ako ng kurikong at iba pang sakit.”
In the Medium Security Compound, the group added political prisoner Renan Manlanat showed rashes across his back and stomach, which he said began while he was still at the RDC and have since spread even to his groin, causing intense itching and discomfort.
Manlanat had only been given povidone-iodine to ease his extreme discomfort, KAPATID reported.
The group said the symptoms described by detainees appear consistent with scabies, a highly contagious skin disease that spreads rapidly in crowded places with little water and poor sanitation.
Lim noted that a similar outbreak among political prisoners in Bicutan in 2019–2020 was contained with the assistance of volunteer doctors from Health Action for Human Rights through prompt medical treatment and strict hygiene measures, including washing and sun-drying bedding and clothes.
The NBP is severely overcrowded, with a congestion rate of roughly 350% to 358% as of 2024.
Designed to hold only 6,435 inmates, it has housed over 22,000 to nearly 30,000 prisoners in the past decades.
Pronouncements by former DOJ secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla of efforts to decongest prison facilities throughout the country has yet to yield notable results. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
