TWO officials of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) have been relieved from their posts pending completion of investigations into alleged anomalies and controversies hounding the country’s penitentiary facilities.
Meanwhile, legislators were of the consensus that the problems besetting the BuCor needed systemic solutions, saying “band aid” remedies done in the past failed to address the issues.
In a statement, BuCor chief Gregorio Catapang Jr. said he has relieved Deputy Director General for Administration Gerald Aro and Deputy Director for Operations and head executive assistant Angelina Bautista.
Catapang ordered the officials to be investigated following questions by lawmakers on their behavior during a hearing of the House Committee on Public Order and Safety.
Bautista asserted that she is open to an investigation.
“I ask that I be relieved of my position so as not to taint the good name of our Director General,” she said.
The BuCor said Aro was also relieved as the superintendent of the Davao Prison and Penal Farm. His deputy, Rufino Martin, was designated as acting superintendent.
Catapang said that the investigations will give the officials a chance to clear their names.
Camarines Sur Rep. Arnie Fuentebella acknowledged that the problem at the New Bilibid Prison “was not a problem of the Bureau of Corrections nor of BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. alone, but of the government as a whole.”
Fuentebella made the statement during the recent hearing at House Committee on Public Order and Safety chaired by Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez.
This developed as Bicol Saro Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan has incorporated the establishment of an electronic monitoring system containing information on all persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) in his bill seeking to create the Department of Corrections and Jail Management (DCJM).
Yamsuan said this encrypted monitoring system will enable the DCJM to track not only the history and whereabouts of the PDLs, but also their progress in rehabilitation programs, and more importantly, their time in detention and appeals processes to determine if they are eligible for reintegration into society.
“On top of creating the DCJM to integrate our fragmented correctional system, establishing this monitoring database is likewise vital in safeguarding the rights of PDLs,” Yamsuan said.
“With a comprehensive monitoring system in place, PDLs who are still languishing in jail but are eligible for release can be easily tracked, thus helping decongest our crowded penal facilities,” he added.
Yamsuan has filed House Bill (HB) 8672 which aims to create the DCJM, as reports surfaced about a missing PDL and the possibility that there could be mass graves inside the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP).
The many problem besetting the BuCor like congestion due to lack of facilities and inadequate budget have been the agency’s problems ever since. “It is like a broken car that whoever the driver is can do nothing unless we fix the problem and that is up to the government,” Fuentebella said.
Fuentebella explained that the motu proprio inquiry being undertaken by the House was not only meant to find faults at the BuCor, but also to offer solutions.
He said the House needs to know what the BuCor is going through and through the inquiry “we will able to see how deep the problem is not only at the BuCor but also in other local jails nationwide.”
“We have to review everything,” Fuentebella added.
Asked who foots the bill every time a prisoner gets sick, Catapang told the committee that the bureau is given an allocation of P15 for medicines and P70 per day for meals for every prisoner.
If a prisoner gets sick, it is the bureau that shoulders the payment for the medical expenses. “Sinasalo na lang namin and get the budget from our maintenance and operating expenses (budget),” he explained.
This prompted Fuentebella to propose the forging of a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Health to help BuCor defray the cost of the medical expenses of sick inmates so as not to deplete the agency’s meager resources.
Fuentebella also suggested that it would be a big help for the prisoners if the bureau will enter into an agreement with the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the provision of livelihood programs.
Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop during the same hearing told Catapang: “I don’t envy you, had you consulted me before accepting the job, I will advise you not to accept it “problema mo na yung mga tao mo tapos problema mo pa yung binabantayan ng tao mo.”
When asked by Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante asked why he accepted the job at BuCor, Catapang replied that when he was called by Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla to take the helm of agency, he took it as a challenge and “hindi tayo umaatras, I think I’m still good for the service of the country. Kayang kaya natin ito… pagtulungan natin with your help. Give me your trust and confidence and I will do it.”
Abante also filed a motion to inspect the national penitentiary together with a Department of Budget and Management representative in time for the deliberation of the budget to find out what is happening there and to see for themselves the extent of the problem on the ground.
Meanwhile, Yamsuan in filing his HB HB) 8672 noted that last year, 176 bodies of PDLs who died inside the NBP were found stored and unclaimed in a funeral home since December 2021. This prompted the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to conduct an independent probe into this deplorable incident.
“These unfortunate instances underscore the urgency of instituting reforms in the way we manage our penal facilities, which we can only begin to accomplish by unifying our fragmented correctional system,” said Yamsuan, former assistant secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Under HB 8672, the proposed DCJM will be the single authority that will supervise over BuCor, which is currently under the Department of Justice (DOJ); the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) of the DILG; the correctional and jail services of the provincial governments, the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP); and the Parole and Probation Administration (PPA), Yamsuan said.
“A centralized department would streamline resource allocation and budgeting, ensuring that each facility would have adequate funding to support essential services that would contribute to better living conditions and a higher standard of care for PDLs, fostering an environment that is more conducive to rehabilitation,” Yamsuan said in his explanatory note to his measure.