New BuCor chief Gaudencio Pangilinan hit for lack of ‘delicadeza’

Just retired Lt. Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan lacked delicadeza (sense of propriety) for not waiting until he was cleared of plunder charges before accepting President Aquino’s appointment as director of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), two former senior military officers have said.

In separate interviews, retired Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and retired Col. Ariel Querubin disapproved of Pangilinan’s decision to accept the appointment, although they said they respected the President’s prerogative to make it.

Alleged bagman

Pangilinan was named BuCor chief on July 19, three days before he was to retire from the military service on July 22.

He retired before his 56th birthday which fell on July 25, the same day President Aquino delivered his State of the Nation Address before Congress.

Pangilinan took his oath of office on July 28 at the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is investigating the plunder suit filed against him and other incumbent and retired military officers by former Lt. Col. George Rabusa.

Rabusa blew the whistle on corruption in the highest echelons of the military, implicating Pangilinan as the “bagman” of one general.

In an interview on ANC News, Lim said the appointment “sends the wrong message to our countrymen.”

In a later phone interview, Lim said he was merely voicing out what many people felt.

“Since he has a case, he should face his case. He could have waited to be cleared first. That would have been best,” he said.

Querubin, a “mistah” (classmate) of Pangilinan’s in Class 1979 of the Philippine Military Academy, said Pangilinan should have waited for the outcome of the DOJ’s preliminary investigation. The DOJ has supervision over BuCor.

“He has the discretion to wait first to be cleared. That’s what he should have done for the sake of delicadeza,” said Querubin in a separate phone interview.

‘He should have waited’

He cited the case of retired Maj. Gen. Ernesto Boac who in June took an indefinite leave of absence as assistant secretary for comptrollership in the Department of National Defense after Rabusa included him in the plunder suit.

“He should have waited, like Asec Boac, that’s what I think. What Asec Boac did was commendable,” Querubin said.

Both Lim and Querubin, a Medal of Valor awardee, retired from the service when they ran for the Senate in the May 2010 elections.

The two were granted amnesty this year for their involvement in military plots to oust former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Early in the Aquino administration, Pangilinan’s appointment as commander of the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) was questioned in military circles because he skipped being an Army division commander first.

Last March, Pangilinan was included on the list of those being considered for Armed Forces chief of staff even if he was set to retire in four months.

According to the military grapevine, Pangilinan got the important Nolcom post due to his closeness to former Army commander now Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.