MANILA, Philippines – From going after scalawag cops, new Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa  will now go after scalawag jail officers.

Dela Rosa said on Thursday, May 10, that the names of at least two dozen BuCor personnel are included in the infamous narco-list of President Rodrigo Duterte which links public servants to the illegal drugs trade.

“Actually meron kaming mga BuCor personnel na kasama don sa drug watch list ni Presidente, so hinahanap natin yung mga tao na ‘yan (Actually, we have BuCor personnel who are part of the drug watch list of the president, so we are currently looking for them),” Dela Rosa told Rappler in a one-on-one interview which aired on Friday.

Asked how many were in the narco-list, Dela Rosa responded: “Around 25.”

He did not mention the level of involvement of the employees, but Dela Rosa’s announcement comes as no surprise as jail guards have been accused repeatedly of treating favorably high-value inmates, such as drug lords. (READ: Why anomalies happen in Bilibid)

How is he tracking them down? Dela Rosa said he has formed a “group” to probe the drug-linked personnel.

The former top cop said the team is comprised of operatives from the BuCor and the Philippine National Police. He refused to reveal how the group operates or how many they are.

Dela Rosa just said he formed the red team because the BuCor doesn’t have an equivalent to the PNP’s Internal Affairs Service (IAS) or the Counterintelligence Task Force (CITF) – two star units in what the PNP has brandished as its “internal cleansing campaign” to weed out bad cops.

The IAS investigates the administrative and procedural blunders of policemen, while the CITF keeps an eye out for crime-committing cops. – Rappler.com