BuCor workers asks Duterte to fire chief for corruption

DEMOLITION MAN BuCor chief Gerald Bantag takes a mallet to some of the banned items found at the national penitentiary. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ/INQUIRER file photo

MANILA, Philippines — For some Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) personnel, the best gift they could ever receive this Christmas would be the ouster of their director general.

In an open letter, unidentified and “concerned BuCor officials and employees” have called on President Duterte to fire Gerald Bantag for committing “other forms of graft and corrupt practices in the highest order,” citing instances in which he allegedly abused his authority.

“This will be your greatest Christmas gift to BuCor, Mr. President, Sir!” they said.

In particular, the group said they felt offended by Bantag’s “sweeping generalization” that “95 percent” of the around 3,100 BuCor officials and employees were corrupt, “without any bases or facts to support it.”

According to them, during staff meetings, Bantag “keeps on cursing BuCor officials and employees and displays unprofessional and unethical conduct.”

Threat of reassignment

He has also openly threatened to reassign some personnel to distant penal colonies “since he has the blessings of the President,” they added.

The group cited the case of a BuCor official who was “forced to resign because he was thrice reassigned to different colonies” within a month without any explanation.

Bantag, they claimed, also ordered BuCor officers to surrender their issued firearms to contractual civilians for “fear of reprisal from BuCor personnel who were gravely hurt by his baseless accusations and threats.”

When he became the BuCor director-general in October, Bantag said he would bring in trusted personnel from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to help him clean up the agency. He used to head the BJMP in Mimaropa region.

For some BuCor employees, however, the assignment of BJMP employees to supervisory posts was in violation of the Civil Service Commission’s (CSC) omnibus rules on appointments and other human resource actions.

Comparable position

Under Rule IV, section 13(b)(7) of the CSC resolution, the movement of government employees to another agency shall be limited to a “position whose duties are comparable to [their] position in the parent agency.”

“[They] shall not be designated to a position exercising control or supervision over regular and career employees of the receiving agency,” it said.

In their open letter, the concerned BuCor officials and employees said the superintendents of facilities at New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City were replaced by nine BJMP personnel.

“They are now exercising control and supervision over the regular and career BuCor officials and employees,” they claimed.

They also alleged that Bantag designated BJMP personnel as members of the BuCor bids and awards committee, a violation of the procurement law since committee members should be permanent employees of the procuring entity concerned.

The CSC has yet to rule on the impropriety or propriety of these interagency movements.

The BJMP is under the interior department while the BuCor is with the Department of Justice.

“Let it be known that the BuCor officials and employees fully support the changes that DG Bantag is undertaking. But equally, we resist and condemn the wanton violations that he committed and is continuously committing in carrying out said changes,” they said.

Asked for comment, Col. Gabriel Chaclag, BuCor spokesperson, said they “would look into the group’s claims” although he dismissed the open letter as being written by “disgruntled [BuCor] officers who were relieved from their posts.”

“The mere fact that they did not identify themselves make their claims questionable,” he stressed.