Bureau of Immigration Bicutan Detention Center

Bureau of Immigration Bicutan Detention Center
The gate of Camp Bagong Diwa, within which the Bicutan Detention Center sits.
Bureau of Immigration Bicutan Detention Center is located in Metro Manila
Bureau of Immigration Bicutan Detention Center
Location in Metro Manila
Bureau of Immigration Bicutan Detention Center is located in Luzon
Bureau of Immigration Bicutan Detention Center
Location in Luzon
Bureau of Immigration Bicutan Detention Center is located in Philippines
Bureau of Immigration Bicutan Detention Center
Location in the Philippines
LocationCamp Bagong Diwa, Lower Bicutan, Taguig, Metro Manila
Coordinates14°29′05″N 121°03′19″E / 14.4846833°N 121.0553359°E / 14.4846833; 121.0553359
StatusOperational
Security classImmigration detention center
Capacity140[1]
Population418[1] (as of April 2020)
Former nameBID Detention Center[2]
Managed byBureau of Immigration
DirectorCommissioner Norman G. Tansingco
WardenOIC Leander F. Catalo [3]
CityTaguig
Postal code1632
CountryPhilippines

The Bureau of Immigration Bicutan Detention Center (BI–Bicutan)[4] is the principal immigration detention center administered by the Bureau of Immigration of the Philippines. Located inside Camp Bagong Diwa, in Lower Bicutan, Taguig, the facility is known internally as the Warden Facility and Protection Unit (WFPU).[5] However, in press releases and public statements, the Bureau variously refers to the facility as a "jail",[6] "warden facility"[6] or "detention center".[7] The function of the facility is to hold foreign detainees who are awaiting deportation, for example, because they have pending criminal cases, or because they are accused of having overstayed their visas.

Perennially overcrowded,[1][8][9] it has been accused of widespread human rights abuses[10][9] and has been compared to a gulag by The Manila Times.[11] As an administrative detention center, there is no constitutional right to bail from BI–Bicutan,[12] and some detainees have spent upwards of ten years there, neither convicted of a crime nor deported from the country.[13]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference SC2000 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Contact Us, Bureau of Immigration—Republic of the Philippines. Retrieved 2020-04-30.
  4. ^ Unserviceable Motor Vehicles (2014-03-11), Bureau of Immigration—Republic of the Philippines. Retrieved 2020-04-30.
  5. ^ BI Nabs Korea's Most Wanted Swindler (2018-02-08), Press Release, Bureau of Immigration
  6. ^ a b BI deports 10 more aliens detained at Bicutan jail (2020-06-30), Press Release, Bureau of Immigration
  7. ^ BI nabs Chinese illegal miner in Mindanao (2013-11-07), Press Release, Bureau of Immigration
  8. ^ Ramirez, Jun (14 May 2020). "159 employees/inmates at BI detention center test negative for COVID". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  9. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Summary of stakeholders' submissions-the Philippines, Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, p. 12, 27 February 2017
  11. ^ Tulfo, Ramon (23 April 2019). "The country's version of gulag". The Manila Times. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).