BuCor exec Asuncion resigns

A ranking official of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), which supervises the country's penal colonies including the New Bilibid Prison, has resigned just five months into the job.

BuCor Deputy Director for Operations Rolando Asuncion told GMA News Online that he forwarded his resignation letter to Malacañang on Thursday.

The prison official said he quit his post due to a "work-related issue." 

When asked to elaborate, Asuncion said he got wind of information that he would be asked by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to go on leave pending an administrative investigation against him.

Asuncion said BuCor Director General Benjamin Delos Santos told him that he was under investigation for protecting the alleged illegal activities of some Muntinlupa City policemen and receiving vehicles from an inmate involved in the illegal narcotics trade.

Asuncion was also reportedly asked by Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Alexander Balutan to join the PCSO Board of Directors.

The resigned BuCor official denied these issues.

"Ayaw ko pong lalo nila akong siraan 'pag nagpatuloy ako sa BuCor kaya minabuti ko pong mag-resign," Asuncion said.

Sought for comment, Aguirre denied ordering an investigation against Asuncion.

"As of this moment there is no pending investigation against Deputy Director Asuncion. We have just received a copy of his resignation but it is the Office of the President who will act on it," he said in a text message.

A retired police official, Asuncion was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as BuCor deputy director on July 19, 2016.

He was named officer-in-charge of the bureau the following day, July 20, a post he held until late November when Duterte tapped a fraternity brother and another retired police official, Benjamin Delos Santos, as the new BuCor chief.

It was during Asuncion's watch that Special Action Force troopers took over the security operations inside the NBP, following intelligence reports that high profile inmates continue to run illegal drug operations using cellphones.

The SAF's tour of duty at the NBP, where 75 percent of the country's drug transactions are supposedly happening, began on July 20.

With the SAF at the helm, authorities said inmates were having a hard time sneaking in contraband such as cellphones, signal boosters, cash and illegal drugs.

The Department of Justice also installed high-powered signal jammers to disrupt communication signals inside Building 14 and prevent drug lords from operating and conducting drug-related transactions online using their cellphones.

Building 14 houses high profile inmates like Jaybee Sebastian, Herbert Colanggo and Peter Co. — VS/KBK, GMA News