Duterte names ex-Manila City Jail warden as new BuCor boss

Updated @ 10:03 p.m., Sept. 17, 2019

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed former Manila City Jail warden Gerald Quitaleg Bantag as the new Director-General of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

This came few weeks after Nicanor Faeldon was fired as BuCor chief in the wake of controversies on the release of heinous crimes convicts via the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) policy.

READ: Duterte to Faeldon: You’re fired

“Mr. Bantag was appointed by the President as the new DG of the BuCor based on his professional competence and honesty,” Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement Tuesday.

To date, nearly 2,000 convicted heinous felons have already been released under the GCTA law.

Bantag is currently the regional director of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Mimaropa.

Aside from the Manila City Jail, he has also served as warden of the Parañaque City jail.

In 2017, Bantag was ordered arrested by the Parañaque City Regional Trial Court Branch 274 in connection with the 2016 explosion in the city jail that left 10 inmates dead — with eight of them, including two Chinese nationals, facing drug charges. The other two were charged with illegal possession of firearms and robbery with homicide.

READ: 10 dead due to explosion inside Parañaque City Jail

READ: Parañaque jail blast: Lax guards, inmates with Uzi

/kga /atm