Retired AFP general takes over top BuCor post

MANILA, Philippines - Retired military general Gaudencio Pangilinan officially assumed his post as chief of the controversy-ridden Bureau of Corrections yesterday, assuring BuCor employes that he will be an approachable boss.

“You can come to me anytime,” Pangilinan said during the turnover ceremony at the New Bilibid Prisons function hall. “Even the sweepstakes vendor can go to my office if he wishes to.”

The former soldier, who appeared stocky in his white barong, said he is not “masungit (ill tempered),” eliciting laughter.

In a separate interview, the new BuCor chief told The STAR providing guidance to his subordinates is his top priority. He said he also wants to address the crimes that beset the state penitentiaries.

Pangilinan, a member of Philippine Military Academy Class of 1979, is the fifth retired military general to assume the bureau’s top post. He replaced retired police general Ernesto Diokno, who resigned amid the controversy on the illegal escape of former Batangas governor and homicide convict Antonio Leviste from the New Bilibid Prisons compound.

The turnover was led by acting BuCor chief Manuel Co, who provided Pangilinan with a plan on how to conduct promotions and recruitment. Co said it is up to Pangilinan whether he will adopt it.

Pangilinan admitted before the jailers that his new post is different from the military service and that he is still in the process of learning. He encouraged jail guards and officials to approach him for any concern and help him make the public understand the real situation “inside.”

“I’m open so we could understand their problems and their concerns. That has been my policy even as general,” he told The STAR.

Pangilinan quipped that his cell phone number is for everyone to reach, even inmates who have their own cell phones. Cell phones are prohibited in jail.

Pangilinan was appointed on July 19 despite a plunder case filed against him by retired lieutenant colonel George Rabusa before the Department of Justice, which supervises the BuCor.

Rabusa, the former military budget officer who exposed the alleged corruption in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, accused Pangilinan of being one of the 17 military officials who pocketed at least P50 million in government funds.