Prisons chief goes on leave over Go fiasco

MANILA, Philippines – Gaudencio Pangilinan Jr, the Bureau of Corrections director, will go on an indefinite leave following the disappearance of murder convict Rolito Go Wednesday from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa. Go, saying he was abducted, resurfaced Wednesday evening, August 15.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda announced Pangilinan’s offer to go on leave, claiming the government is conducting a thorough probe on whether or not Go was abducted.

Laciera said the President has “ordered an in-depth, multi-agency investigation into the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and eventual reappearance.”

He said: “In order to emphasize the principle of command responsibility and to enhance the investigation, Bureau of Corrections Director Gaudencio Pangilinan has offered to go on leave and the President has accepted. In the meantime, the New Bilibid Prison will be under the direct supervision of the Secretary of Justice, pending the appointment of an Officer-in-Charge.”

Pangilinan replaced Ernesto Diokno in May 2011. Diokno was also forced to quit following an expose that detained former Batangas Gov Antonio Leviste was able to leave the Bilibid compound.

A retired major general and a 1979 graduate of the Philippine Military Academy, Pangilinan was former commanding general of the Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command. He headed the military’s counter-intelligence unit under the Arroyo administration and his unit was responsible for the arrest of mutineers such as Danilo Lim, now Customs intelligence chief, and Antonio Trillanes IV, now senator, among other suspected coup plotters.

Suppliers have filed graft charges against Pangilinan with the justice department and the Ombudsman over his supposed failure to open to bidding certain contracts in the NBP. – Rappler.com