Given the public outrage over the near-release of rapist and murderer former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez, and the subsequent revelation that the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law has been used numerous times to free prisoners convicted of heinous crimes, President Rodrigo Duterte has sacked Bureau of Corrections Director Nicanor Faeldon.
Hold off the celebration for at least two reasons.
First, the mess at the bureau appears to be bigger and farther-reaching than any single director.
The public is bound to be transfixed in the next few weeks by investigations that not only seek to aid legislation but shed light on the apparently shady dealings between financially able prisoners and malleable prison officials.
The plot thickens—and if this administration were truly sincere about stomping off government corruption, it has to act decisively to make past and present officials of the national penitentiary accountable for the scandalous horse trading that tramples on law and order and mocks the spirit of restorative justice.
We trust something concrete will come out of succeeding hearings.
What we do not trust, however—and this is our second point—is the propensity of this administration to recycle officials. The disgraced ones, exposed as inept at best and corrupt at worst, go from one post to the next, secure and happy with the knowledge that they still enjoy the trust and confidence of the appointing power.
Will this happen yet again with Faeldon? Recall that he was previously yanked out as chief of the Bureau of Customs after some P6.4 billion worth of shabu fantastically breezed through the ports and onto the streets. After the outrage died down, we were aghast to hear he had been appointed to run the New Bilibid Prison.
There was Isidro Lapeña, another Customs head, who supposedly quit after the discovery of drugs stashed inside magnetic lifters. Graft cases were filed against him, but he was soon back in service as head of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
Another Customs official, Vener Baquiran, sacked earlier as the district collector of the Manila International Container Port, found his new calling as deputy commissioner of the same agency.
And then, Northern Police District chief Roberto Fajardo, suspended after the killing of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos, has been named chief of the Philippine National Police’s Highway Patrol Group.
Mr. Duterte once declared that he will never hesitate to fire officials for the slightest “whiff of corruption.”He has kept his part of the bargain and fired some of them. Alas, in the fine print there was no promise he would not recycle them.
God forbid we hear Faeldon being assigned to another government office.
Then again, the argument is no longer that a particular removed official should or should not be appointed to any other government post. It is that recycling officials removed for wrongdoing, or the mere suggestion of wrongdoing, should altogether stop.