Ex-Davao City jail chief appointed BJMP head

President Duterte has appointed a former jail chief of his hometown Davao City as head of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and a retired Army general as board member of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

Allan Iral, who served as Davao City jail chief while Duterte was mayor, was named BJMP jail director on June 25, his appointment paper showed.

Iral replaced Deogracias Tapayan, who has retired from the service. Before his appointment as BJMP chief, Iral was officer-in-charge of the bureau. He also served as director of the jail bureau’s personnel management and logistics offices, regional jail director in Davao and Central Visayas, chief of directorial staff, deputy chief for operations and deputy chief for administration.

Iral is a graduate of the Philippine National Police Academy Sandigan class of 1994. He was appointed as OIC by Interior Secretary Eduardo Año last March.

Iral promised “drug- and corrupt-free” BJMP offices and jail units – which include 478 district, city and municipal jails nationwide – under his term.

“The order of the day is to ensure that all BJMP offices and jail units are drug- and corrupt-free while the agency and its personnel co-serve in a culture of service excellence, integrity and professionalism,” he said in a statement.

Duterte also appointed former Army general Ricardo Morales as board member of PhilHealth. Morales, who was appointed to the PhilHealth board last June 25, will represent indirect contributors.

Health Secretary and PhilHealth chairman Francisco Duque III previously said Morales would be named president and chief executive officer of the state-run health insurer. Duterte previously appointed Morales as member of the board of trustees of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, replacing another former military officer Reynaldo Velasco.

Before appointing Morales to PhilHealth, the President asked the officials of the government health insurer to resign to give way to a probe on the supposed ghost dialysis claims.

Other new appointees were Lourdines dela Cruz (deputy national statistician of the Philippine Statistics Authority), Jon Castro (board member of the Clark Development Corp.), Woodrow Maquiling (tourism director IV), Rowena Montecillo (tourism director IV), Mary Joy Ramirez (ad interim foreign service officer class I), Amable Aguiluz V (special envoy of the President to the Gulf Cooperation Council) and Bolivar Bao (ad interim foreign service officer class I).