Another VIP at NBP
President Noynoy cannot claim ignorance of the law or the Constitution when he arrogated unto himself the power of Congress through the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
He knew DAP was illegal and yet went on with it.
In 2008, Noynoy, then a senator, filed Senate Bill 3121 which sought to limit the discretionary powers of the President to realign and defer releases of funds.
The bill, which obviously wasn’t passed into a law, sought to prohibit the President from “usurping Congress’ power of the purse,” in then Sen. Noynoy’s own words.
So feigning ignorance is the height of dishonesty.
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We have a President who’s not a lawyer but who’s surrounded by bright legal minds like Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa of the famous Marcos, Ochoa, Serapio and Tan Law Office.
But the problem with P-Noy is he doesn’t consult his legal advisers before undertaking projects or issuing orders which could have legal consequences.
“Matigas ang ulo niya (He’s hardheaded),” a Palace insider once told me.
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Another convicted drug lord, Dionisio Borromeo Jr., is allegedly pampered at the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) thanks to Corrections Director Franklin Bucayu, according to an NBP birdie.
Borromeo reportedly sleeps in an air-conditioned room with a bathroom and kitchen. The room is connected to a wireless fidelity Internet (Wi-Fi), which means he has access to a computer.
The convict is not covered by visiting hours; visitors have been seen coming in and out of his room. Our NBP birdie said Borromeo, a former official of the Philippine National Police, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for drug trafficking and the manufacture of illegal drugs.
Allegedly on orders of Bucayu, Borromeo was confined at the Reception and Diagnostic Center, where new inmates spend two months before they are transferred to the “castle” or the main prison.
Borromeo has been staying at the RDC for more than a year, said our NBP source.
Justice Secretary De Lima might want to check out this column’s allegations.
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What’s so special about Bureau of Corrections Director Bucayu, under whose watch many irregularities are taking place at the NBP, that he has not yet been sacked?
Ernesto Diokno was asked to resign immediately after then inmate, former Batangas Gov. Tony Leviste, was seen roaming around Makati City.
Bucayu, a retired police general, has been caught redhanded giving VIP treatment to many inmates and sleeping on his job, resulting in deadly riots inside the NBP and the smuggling of drugs and alcohol into the national prison.
Why is Bucayu untouchable?
Is he a presidential relative like Ninoy Aquino International Airport General Manager Jose Angel Honrado, also the subject of many complaints, who refuses to resign despite having undergone heart surgery recently?
