BuCor official quits post amid 'baseless accusations'

New Bilibid Prison (NBP) Superintendent Angelina Bautista has resigned from her post, the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) announced Tuesday.

In a statement, BuCor said Bautista tendered her irrevocable resignation effective August 11 as Executive Assistant IV-Office of the Director General as she was “no longer comfortable working due to the controversies and baseless accusations” against her and BuCor.

“My resignation does not mean that I am admitting there [are] malicious and unfounded issues incriminating my untainted years of public service,” the BuCor quoted Bautista as saying in her letter.

“I wanted peace, not only for my family but for the entire Bureau of Corrections. I wanted to leave proud, untainted, and uncorrupted corrupted, regardless of how people might perceive it,” Bautista added.

Bautista also extended her gratitude to BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr., who has accepted her resignation.

Meanwhile, Catapang clarified that Bautista must first surrender all government properties issued to her before she will be issued a clearance.

The resignation came days after Bautista was relieved from her post pending an investigation on several issues raised by lawmakers during a House Committee on Public Order and Safety hearing. 

The House committee was investigating the disappearance of an inmate identified as Michael Cataroja, a convicted carnapper who is believed to have escaped the facility.

Bautista is also being linked to an alleged construction business inside the correctional facility, an accusation she has denied before lawmakers.

She is also accused of being the owner of a catering service that was awarded a P21-million contract to provide food for the inmates of the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City.

Catapang said Bautista's resignation will not stop the ongoing investigation. —KBK, GMA Integrated News