Guevarra wants review of law that weakened DOJ control over BuCor

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra. INQUIRER file photo / MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines – The law that clipped the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) control over the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) may have to be reviewed, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Friday.

“I am beginning to think that the law itself that supposedly strengthened the BuCor (Bureau of Corrections) and consequently diminished DOJ control over it may have to be reviewed,” Guevarra told reporters.

The DOJ chief said Republic Act 10575 or the BuCor Act of 2013 made the controversial office a line agency of the DOJ from its previous status as a constituent bureau.

“Since its passage, the DOJ can only exercise administrative supervision over the BuCor instead of control,” Guevarra said.

Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete said that since the passage of the BuCor Act, the “DOJ can only exercise administrative supervision over the BuCor instead of control.”

He added that the same law is what is currently being used by the BuCor’s legal office “to justify its assertion that its decisions as regards the release of high profile inmates do not need notice to, much less prior approval by the SOJ [Secretary of Justice.]”

With the anomalies inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) unfolding at the Senate, Perete said: “We are following with keen interest and taking note of the proceedings.”

Perete said they are waiting for the investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) “which the Department shall use in ascertaining the possible liability – whether criminal, administrative or civil – of those responsible for violation of our criminal laws, of their oath as public officers and of the fundamental edict to treat each human person with utmost respect.”

Also, Perete said allegations of irregularities in the Correctional Institute for Women (CIW), one of the seven penal facilities under BuCor,  will also be investigated including supposed nepotism in the top posts.

“Allegations of nepotism would have to be investigated. There is an express prohibition against nepotism under our civil service rules, specifically Sec. 30 of RA No. 2260. But each case would have to be evaluated on its own merits,” Perete said.

Aside from the “GCTA for sale” racket, various witnesses told Thursday’s Senate hearing about different money-making schemes involving prison officials.

Among these are the entry of prostitutes for high-profile inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) and the “hospital pass for sale” scheme, where Bilibid hospital officials are bribed by inmates who fake their illnesses so they can later be confined at another medical facility outside the prison.

The Joint Review Committee has already completed its work and submitted the draft IRR for the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) to the secretaries of justice and of the interior and local government.

“In the meantime, the Department will pursue, within the mandate and limits imposed by the law, reforms within the BuCor and in its operations. The crafting of a revised IRR for RA 10592, the secretary’s creation of the oversight committee over the BuCor, and his final recommendation,” Perete said.

He added that “the crafting of a revised IRR for RA No 10592, the secretary’s creation of the oversight committee over the Bucor, and his final recommendation to the President of a possible new BuCor Director General are important first steps towards our direction for reform.”/ac