Do toilet cleaners need a diploma?

An insider at New Bilibid Prison (NBP) says one of the men brought in by retired Army Maj. Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan was the source of the grenade that exploded inside the NBP compound.

Pangilinan was fired as director of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) several months ago after the kidnapping of a high-profile inmate, Rolito Go, inside the NBP complex.

My source, an employee of the NBP, said the grenade was sold by Pangilinan’s aide to an inmate.

“That’s the reason the grenade passed through tight security at NBP because the aide was not inspected since he was part of the organic personnel,” said the source.

My source, though, could not identify the Pangilinan aide.

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Reached for comment, Pangilinan said it was “highly impossible.”

“Ganiyan talaga sa loob, sir, magaling gumawa ng istorya (Insiders are good at making up stories),” said the former BuCor director who, according to one of my sources in the Palace, was close to President Noy.

In fact, said the Palace source, Pangilinan was slated for a post at the Bureau of Customs if the kidnapping of Rolito Go did not happen.

A thorough investigation into the grenade-throwing incident at the NBP that wounded several inmates will point to Pangilinan, according to my NBP source.

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It’s high time there was a changing of the guard at the NBP.

The revamp should be thorough.

The current guards should be replaced with new ones who don’t have relatives among employees of the national prisons.

Most of the guards, employees and career officials at the national prisons are related to one another.

This setup is highly irregular as the guards and other employees cover up for one another.

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I had dinner Monday with the incoming chief of the Philippine National Police, Deputy Director General Alan Purisima, and our conversation touched on reforms he would undertake in one of the world’s most undisciplined police forces.

Purisima said he would propose the downgrade of the educational qualifications for a police candidate, from the present setup requiring a four-year college diploma to one asking for only a high school diploma.

I told the three-star police general that most new cops are undisciplined because they think the world owes them a living on account of their high education.

Purisima agreed. He said patrolling the streets and being proficient with a gun do not require a college degree.

I told Purisima that during my father’s time, the troopers of the defunct Philippine Constabulary were high school graduates and they were more disciplined and efficient.

I can’t understand why persons applying for a janitorial job need to be a college graduate.

Does sweeping floors and cleaning toilets need a college diploma?