Former Justice Secretary and now Solicitor General Menardo I. Guevarra said the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) “needs a total overhaul” and the Department of Justice (DOJ) should have “full control” over the bureau.
Guevarra, who served as DOJ secretary from 2018 to early 2022, said “most of the shenanigans at BuCor are very deeply rooted and institutionalized” and this is why “kailangan talaga ng total overhaul (really needs a total overhaul).”
He pointed out that Congress should consider “restoring full control, instead of mere supervision over BuCor, to the DOJ.”
Under the 2013 BuCor Modernization Law, Guevarra said “the agency was made autonomous.”
“The DOJ now merely supervises, but does not exercise control over, the BuCor,” he said.
“But still the DOJ steps in whenever the BuCor exceeds the limits of its powers,” he stressed.
He noted that during his stint as DOJ secretary, “we fixed the GCTA (good conduct time allowance) rules so that they would be aligned with the law, ordered the BuCor to put a stop to gang wars and construction of ‘kubols,’ tempered its actions prohibiting the passage of residents near the NBP (New Bilibid Prison), included PDLs (persons deprived of liberty) in the Covid vaccination program, launched the single carpeta (prison records) system, and recommended the disapproval of the BuCor’s JVA (joint venture agreement) with ATOM (Agua Tierra Oro Mina Development Corporation) for non-compliance with legal requirements, among other supervisory actions.”
“Sadly, however, the huge excavation inside the NBP was purposely hidden from the knowledge of the DOJ,” he noted.
Suspended BuCor Director General Gerald Q. Bantag has been charged in two murder complaints as “principal by inducement” for the deaths of radio commentator Percival “Percy Lapid” C. Mabasa and inmate Cristito Villamor Palana who had been tagged by self-confessed gunman Joel S. Escorial as “middleman’ in the slaying of the broadcaster last Oct. 3.
The preliminary investigation of the two murder complaints which were consolidated with the first complaint against Escorial and his alleged accomplices will resume on Dec. 5.
Among the controversies that surfaced after being tagged in the two murder complaints were Bantag’s signing of the JVA with the ATOM and the large excavation inside the Bilibid compound.
Under the agreement, ATOM will reportedly donate a 234-hectare of land in Nueva Ecija where the new NBP will be built without any expense on the part of the government in exchange for the development of the present NBP compound into a commercial hub with NBP allegedly getting 35 percent of the earnings.
Guevarra said that when he was informed about the JVA during his time as DOJ secretary, he sent “a memo to DG Bantag telling him to hold off any further action until the DOJ had reviewed the proposed transaction.”
“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 had said in a previous interview.
Incumbent Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla earlier said he had ordered a stop the excavation at the NBP after Bantag informed him that the digging was for a treasure hunt.
The treasure hunting purpose of the excavation contradicted Bantag’s public pronouncements that the digging was for the construction of a diving pool for training of BuCor personnel who are also fielded during calamities and disasters.
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