President Rodrigo R. Duterte (Presidential Photo)
MANILA -- President Rodrigo Duterte is confident that newly appointed Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag will clean up the agency, being a former regional director of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).
In a press briefing Tuesday, Duterte said he hopes Bantag would not commit irregularities.
"He knows his business. ‘Yung lahat na nangyari, huwag mong gawin, ‘yun lang (Everything that happened, don't do it). All the things that you have observed along the way, all the things that are being obnoxious or repugnant to the public, huwag mong gawin (don't do it)," Duterte said, as he repeated before mediamen his marching orders to Bantag.
Bantag, former regional director of BJMP in Region IV-B (Mimaropa) and former warden of the Parañaque and Manila City jails, replaced Nicanor Faeldon, who was dismissed by the President for disobeying his order to stop the release of almost 2,000 heinous crimes convicts under the controversial Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law.
Duterte defended Bantag's appointment, saying he was chosen for his professional competence despite pending criminal charges.
Bantag was the jail warden when an explosion occurred at the Parañaque City Jail in 2016. He was among those hurt but still faced charges for the blast that left several inmates dead.
"He’s a professional. He was accused of killing several, prisoners, grenade they say. But I think there was a commotion there and he was charged with --- for the crime of --- for the crime of murder. But it was downgraded to homicide and since there is no conviction yet, in obedience to the rule of the presumption of innocence, I gave him a new job," he said.
Duterte is confident that Bantag will get to the bottom of the reported illegal drug trade inside the national penitentiary.
"Ang drugs talaga, ang drugs (Drugs) --- a fourth of the drug activity in Manila, Greater Manila, is being controlled by prisoners who are inside the national penitentiary sa (in) BuCor, ‘yan ang masiguro ninyo (that's for sure). And everybody who has been there, who had had the chance to be the manager there hirap na hirap (is having a hard time). So tignan ko. Inaabuso nila (They abuse), I am sure that this guy from BJMP would know what to do," he said. (PNA)
