
MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – President NoyNoy Aquino today announced that the Philippines and Dutch governments have signed an agreement for the lease of some 2,000 jail cells in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands recently announced that it will close eight prisons because of a lack of criminals. The Dutch justice ministry said that declining crime rates in the Netherlands mean that although the country has the capacity for 14,000 prisoners, there are only 12,000 detainees. The decrease is expected to continue, the ministry said.
Aquino said that the lease will help solve his country’s problem of prison overcrowding while ensuring that there will be sufficient jail cells to accommodate the growing number of political officials being convicted of graft, corruption, plunder and other criminal offenses. Aquino himself is being charged for violation of the constitution in connection with the illegal use of funds under the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) and the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Asked how the Philippine government will pay for the lease, Aquino said, “Why, from DAP and PDAF, of course.”