By Jonathan Hicap Prison guards and other employees of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) have been given new ranks and salary increases under a law that took five years to implement. Corrections officers and prison guards attend the opening program for the donning of ranks as part of the inaugural ceremony on the implementation of the modernization law inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City. (Jansen Romero / MANILA BULLETIN) From civilian employees, hundreds of BuCor personnel took their oath on April 24 for new positions as uniformed personnel under a new pay scheme created by Republic Act 10575 or The Bureau of Corrections Act of 2013. The law was finally implemented when the new staffing pattern was approved by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in June last year. Justice Undersecretary-in-charge of BuCor Antonio Kho Jr. administered the mass oath-taking of the reclassified employees at the Donning of Ranks ceremony held at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) sunken garden in Muntinlupa. RA 10575 seeks to modernize facilities of the BuCor and standardize salaries of personnel that equal to that of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP). Under the law, the salary of a Prison Guard 1, to be now known as Corrections Officer 1, will more than double, from P13,606 to P29,668 a month. About 2,434 BuCor employees benefited from the law, which came into effect last March. BuCor officer-in-charge Valfrie Tabian lamented that before the law’s implementation, prison guards received low salaries. He said the salary hike will help in stamping out offers by rogue personalities to offer BuCor personnel to do illegal activities. “Malaking tulong ito. Dati hindi mo maiwasan dahil mababa ang sweldo mate-tempt sila kung may mga offers sa kanila,” he said.