Old Bilibid Prison – Today in History – June 25, 1865
The Old Bilibid Prison, the first national penitentiary in the country, was established in Manila on June 25, 1865 under a Spanish royal decree. It was divided into two sections — the “carcel” section housing 600 inmates, and the “presidio” accommodating 527 prisoners.
About seven decades later, due to increasing population and crime rate, Commonwealth Act No. 67 was enacted and the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) was constructed in Muntinlupa, Rizal in 1936 with a budget of P1 million and initial land area of 551 hectares.
The old prison’s equipment and facilities were transferred to the NBP in 1940.
The remnants of the old facility was used by the City of Manila as its detention center, known as the Manila City Jail.
On this same day a year earlier, Galicano Apacible (1864-1949), doctor of medicine, newspaperman, founder of La Solidaridad and ambsassador to the United States of the revolutionary government of General Emilio Aguinaldo, was born in Balayan, Batangas. He died on March 22, 1949.
On June 25, 1881, the Spanish king issued a royal decree abolishing the tobacco monopoly in the Philippines.
The tobacco monopoly under the control of the Spanish government was established in 1782 by Governor Jose Basco with the aim of bringing in large profits for the government and making the Philippines the leading tobacco producer of the world.
Certain areas in the Philippines — Cagayan Valley, Nueva Ecija, Marinduque, and some Ilocos provinces — were required to cultivate tobacco and the farmers were given strict quotas to be raised annually.
