Ex-AFP chief off to prisons

President Arroyo swore into office yesterday Ret. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Dionisio Santiago as new director of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), with a rank of senior undersecretary.

The President administered the oath at Malacañang before flying to Seoul, South Korea for a state visit.

Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes and AFP chief Gen. Narciso Abaya, who had succeeded Santiago, were among those who witnessed the ceremony.

Santiago, 57, replaced Ret. Col. Rolando Macala who was earlier suspended for 90 days to allow the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission to study the charges filed against him.

Interviewed by The STAR yesterday, Santiago said he looks forward to applying his military expertise in the administration of the country’s penal institutions like the National Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City.

Santiago is a graduate of Philippine Military Academy Class 1970 and an International Fellowship Program awardee of the US Army War College from 1993-1994.

"My military background will be useful on how to reform the (penal) system. It would be like a military approach – soften the ground first to make people realize and feel life is not hopeless inside the prisons," Santiago said.

Among his priorities, he said, would be instituting reforms in the treatment of VIPs serving prison terms like former Rep. Romeo Jalosjos.

"We have to look into that. I just don’t know why he was allowed certain privileges," Santiago said.

Likewise, he also vowed to stamp out alleged criminal activities by prisoners serving time at the NBP.

"I even received reports that jueteng operations are also taking place inside the NBP," he said.

Aside from the NBP, Santiago said, he has to administer other state penal systems. There are at least 16,000 prisoners at the NBP alone, one thousand of whom are on death row, he cited.

Santiago said he will also study the President’s plan to transfer NBP elsewhere because of privatization.

Like his short stint as AFP chief of staff, where he served for four months and 11 days, Santiago vowed to do well in his new assignment during the last 14 months of the Arroyo administration.

"With lots of prayers and good luck, we will succeed," Santiago said.