OSG: Restore full DoJ control over BuCor

The GCTA was purportedly dangled to NBP gang leaders as motivation in finding someone outside of the prison facility to kill Mabasa

Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra yesterday said the Bureau of Corrections “needs a total overhaul” and the Department of Justice should have “full control” over it.

Guevarra, a former Justice secretary from 2018 until the change of administration this year, claimed that “most of the shenanigans at BuCor are very deeply rooted and institutionalized,” thus the need for a total overhaul.

He said Congress should consider “restoring full control, instead of mere supervision over BuCor, to the DoJ” now headed by Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla.

Under the 2013 BuCor Modernization Law, Guevarra said “the agency was made autonomous,” thus the DoJ now merely supervised but does not exercise control over the bureau.

Former Armed Forces chief Gregorio Catapang Jr. has been tasked by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to head BuCor after suspending Gerald Bantag over allegations the latter masterminded the killing of journalist Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa through New Bilibid Prison gang leaders and contacts.

Abuse of power

One such NBP contact, Cristito Palaña, alias Jun Villamor, was also killed on 18 October after he was tagged as the middleman in Mabasa’s killing 15 days earlier on 3 October.

Guevarra said the DoJ must be able to step in whenever BuCor officials abuse their power over persons deprived of liberty. He pointed out that as DoJ chief they “fixed the GCTA (good conduct time allowance) rules so that they would be aligned with the law.”

The GCTA was purportedly dangled to NBP gang leaders as motivation in finding someone outside of the prison facility to kill Mabasa.

The OSG chief said he also ordered BuCor as DoJ secretary to stop gang wars and the construction of kubols or special lodging inside penal facilities. Likewise, he thumbed down Bantag’s joint venture agreement with a private company pertaining to diggings inside NBP.

“Eventually my office found that the unsolicited proposal failed to comply with certain legal requirements, and we informed the Office of the Executive Secretary accordingly. Since then, we have not heard about this project. It might have been discontinued,” Guevarra said.

Remulla ordered a stop to the excavation at the NBP after Bantag informed him that the digging was to look for the fabled Yamashita treasure dating back to World War 2.

Charges will be filed against Bantag before the OSG over the diggings and JVA, Remulla added.