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MANILA, Philippines – The justice department has appointed a new chief of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), retired senior superintendent and lawyer Benjamin delos Santos.
Delos Santos replaced retired police chief superintendent Rolando Asuncion, who has served as Bucor OIC since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed the presidency in June 2016.
A former official of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Delos Santos is said to be a fraternity brother of President Duterte and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, who belong to San Beda College’s Lex Talionis fraternity, according to a Rappler source.
In his acceptance speech on Monday, November 28, Delos Santos thanked Aguirre for appointing him to “this sensitive position amid controversies surrounding drugs, criminal and corruption.”
His appointment comes as BuCor is mired in a drug scandal that links, among others, Senator Leila de Lima, a former justice secretary, to drug convicts inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP). The maximum security facility is run by BuCor.
Delos Santos noted that the bureau has not received enough support over the years, adding that this has resulted in a “nightmare of overpopulation with guard to inmate ratio of 1:300.” (WATCH: DOJ under Duterte admin: Reform BuCor, New Bilibid Prison)
He pushed for the implementation of the 2013 BuCor modernization law. (READ: What ails the BuCor modernization law?)
Delos Santos expressed confidence that the planned expanded prison in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, would help ease the bureau’s burden. (READ: Auction for Nueva Ecija prison postponed again)
“With my dream of a correctional academy that will train and educate professional prison guards and reformation specialists on upgraded salary standards, I will definitely work to be an instrument of transition to a modern correctional system free from… corruption and criminal activities,” he said.
Other than the NBP and the Correctional Institution for Women, the BuCor has 5 other penal colonies in Davao, Zamboanga, Palawan, Leyte, and Occidental Mindoro.
Data from BuCor showed that the country’s 7 penal colonies house a total of about 41,000 inmates. – Rappler.com
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