3 BuCor officials’ murder probed on links to GCTA

MANILA -- An investigation is underway to determine if the killings of three officials of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) have something to do with the anomalies in the implementation of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said Wednesday.

NCRPO chief Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said these are the killings of Ruperto Traya, chief administrative officer at the BuCor’s Inmate Document Processing Division, who was shot dead on August 27 in Muntinlupa City; Insp. Rommel Reyes in September 2018, and Chief Insp. Angelita Peralta in December 2018.

All of them were shot dead by motorcycle-riding men.

“Initially, the information that we have obtained says their involvement is in illegal drugs. We know that in the past, illegal drug was a rampant problem and many BuCor officials and employees were involved. Now, the GCTA issue has surfaced and many witnesses during a Senate hearing revealed what they know. This is why it is also possible that the motive for these killings is GCTA,” Eleazar said during in a radio interview.

“Now we want to know if this is also the case with ( / 3 BUCOR / 19)

regard to the death of two other BuCor employees,” he added.

The NCRPO chief said he is hoping that they could get more leads as to the death of the three BuCor employees, now that some witnesses have already surfaced to spill the beans on the alleged irregularity in the implementation of the GCTA.

He admitted that they have yet to find a person of interest in these cases.

“We don’t have clear leads right now but I believe that with the revelation from an informant and witnesses, we will have leads in these cases and it might connect the dots. As I have said, we have to backtrack the results to the information we have earlier obtained so that we can resolve these cases,” he stressed.

In a Senate hearing last week, Yolanda Camelon, common-law wife of an inmate at the New Bilibid Prison, disclosed the “GCTA for sale” scheme allegedly being run by some prison officials.

On Monday, the Office of the Ombudsman meted a six-month suspension on 30 BuCor officials, who were involved in the questionable release of prisoners under the GCTA, pending investigation. (PNA)