No reason to delay De Lima confirmation

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

There’s no reason for the Commission on Appointments (CA) to withhold the confirmation of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

Unless her confirmation is being held up for political or personal reasons by some of the CA members, which is abhorrent.

To the majority of the public, De Lima is one of the best chiefs the Department of Justice ever had.

She’s one of the few Cabinet officials who is a credit, instead of a liability, to the Aquino administration.

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De Lima’s order to form a second panel to reinvestigate the murder of broadcaster Gerry Ortega was a testimony to her professionalism as justice secretary.

The first panel had cleared former Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes and his brother, former Coron Mayor Marjo, of Ortega’s murder, but the second panel found the two brothers liable for the murder.

There was strong evidence the former Palawan governor was behind Ortega’s murder.

De Lima could have favored the findings of the first panel since she was close to the former Palawan governor, but she did not. She was Reyes’ counsel in an electoral protest case filed against him in the Commission on Elections years before.

That speaks volumes about the professionalism of the 1985 bar topnotcher (8th placer).

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It’s time Franklin Bucayu was replaced by another more competent director of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

A retired police general, Bucayu has been sleeping on the job while his subordinates are running circles around him.

Under Bucayu’s leadership, all kinds of irregularities have been taking place at the National Penitentiary: Deaths inside the prison compound as a result of gang wars; allowing maximum security inmates to have cellular phones; golf carts for rich inmates; sending inmates to private hospitals when they were never sick.

For example, Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan found that NBP inmate Ricardo Camata, a Sigue-Sigue gang “commander,” was confined in a private hospital for “emergency referral” when he, in the words of Baraan, “was as strong as a camel.”

Either Bucayu is on the take from rich and influential inmates for their VIP treatment or he’s clueless, which is even worse.

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President Benigno Aquino III and Secretary De Lima don’t have to look far and wide for a genuine professional to run BuCor as a replacement for the incompetent Bucayu.

Why don’t they consider a former BuCor insider, Juanito “Itong” Leopando?

Leopando retired from the BuCor in 2008 with a clean record.

Before his retirement, he was superintendent of the Leyte Penal Colony, the Davao Penal Farm, the Iwahig Penal Colony in Palawan and the NBP.

Leopando was loved by his colleagues and superiors, as well as inmates, because he was fair and level-headed.

He is a holder of a PhD in Criminology from the Philippine College of Criminology.

Leopando’s thesis for his MA in Criminology was the rehabilitation of inmates; his PhD thesis was the relocation of the NBP.

The President and De Lima don’t have to take my word for it. They can ask around, if they want to know more about Leopando’s background.