MANILA, Philippines – Dismissed Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Nicanor Faeldon must be replaced by someone without previous issues of corruption or incompetence, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said.
“The President should appoint someone who has no previous issues of corruption or incompetence,” Gatchalian said in a statement.
“The Bureau of Corrections has long been in need of cleansing and reforms. This latest blunder over the release of criminals not covered by the GCTA (good conduct time allowance ) is just a symptom of a much larger problem plaguing the BuCor,” Gatchalian added.
GCTA was used as basis to release the convicts.
“And much like he did in the Bureau of Customs, Faeldon just made the problem worse instead of fixing it,” said the senator.
Faeldon also headed the Bureau of Customs but resigned after he was dragged into the P6.4 billion shabu smuggling mess.
After Faeldon’s dismissal, Gatchalian said the next step in reforming the BuCor is to appoint a “strong and decisive leader who can reform the processes, the people, and the organization itself.”
“As for the Ombudsman’s investigation, it should not focus solely on Faeldon, but rather, it should include all the people who had a hand in setting free to the unsuspecting public these rapists, killers, and drug lords,” Gatchalian stressed. /gsg