Bato: Reassigning erring NBP officers to other facilities will disrupt their operations

Reassigning erring Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) personnel to other correctional facilities would help in disrupting their anomalous activities  in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said Thursday.

Dela Rosa, who headed the BuCor after his stint at the Philippine National Police, issued the remark after incumbent BuCor chief Gregorio Catapang Jr. announced that he relieved 700 prison guards of the NBP Maximum Security Compound. 

Those relieved would undergo a month-long refresher or retraining program before being assigned elsewhere.

Dela Rosa said Catapang should be given the benefit to implement policies which he deems appropriate to clean the agency that he heads.

As a former PNP chief, Dela Rosa shared that he also imposed a similar strategy of reassigning officers who are believed to be doing anomalous activities but there was no hard evidence to prove their involvement.

“‘Pag wala kang matigas na ebidensya, you don’t have a hard evidence against these erring personnel, ang hawak mo lang ay [intelligence] report, which you know na mayroon talagang katuturan, then in order to disrupt their operations, itapon mo sila. You have to displace them, you put them in their uncomfort zone para baka magbago sila ‘pag na-discplace sila,” Dela Rosa said.

“Tama ang diskarte na ganon. I-reshuffle ang tao. Anyway, national agency naman ‘yan (BuCor). Ang coverage niyan buong Pilipinas. So within those seven correction facilities all over the Philippines, pwede niyang ilipat-lipat ang mga tao and we will see, kung magbago itong mga erring officer na ito,” he added.

Apart from the reassignments of the NBP prison guards, Catapang said they might also file administrative and criminal complaints against some of the relieved personnel.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla described the measure as a “safety precaution.”

“It’s a perennial problem of...the bad habits acquired by people through the years in Muntinlupa and BuCor and it’s just a safety precaution so that familiarity of the guards with the inmates will not detract them from doing their job,” Remulla said. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News