Palace: BuCor chief’s fate up to De Lima

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino has given Justice Secretary Leila de Lima a free hand in deciding whether to retain or remove Franklin Bucayu as chief of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) following the discovery of firearms, drugs and lavish detention facilities for high-profile inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

“The President is letting Secretary De Lima decide Bucayu’s fate, ” Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. of the Presidential Communications Operations Office said yesterday.

Several sectors want Bucayu’s ouster over the anomalies in the national penitentiary.

Coloma said Aquino has given De Lima leeway to address the problems in the NBP including the dismantling of gangs and kubols inside the prison facility.

The Department of Justice has jurisdiction over BuCor.

More weapons and illegal drugs were seized in a third raid on the NBP last Monday.

Bong, Jinggoy score De Lima

Detained Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. yesterday said De Lima may have violated the law when she ordered the transfer of high-value inmates from the NBP without a court order.

“She should be held accountable for the unauthorized transfer of the convicts,” he said.

Nineteen drug convicts were plucked out from the NBP and moved to the National Bureau of Investigation detention facility after a raid that exposed their privileges in the state penitentiary on Dec. 15.

Two of the convicts, Willie Sy and Michael Ong, have run to the Court of Appeals to contest their supposed illegal transfer from the NBP.

They said their constitutional rights were violated when they were taken out of the NBP.

Revilla urged the public not to be misled by what he describes as De Lima’s publicity stunt.

“The public should see through the hype of Secretary De Lima. If at all, she should be held accountable for the NBP fiasco. She had long been aware of what was going on there but decided to turn a blind eye,” the senator said.

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, who is detained on plunder charges like Revilla, also scored the apparent inaction of the justice secretary on the anomalies in the NBP.

“She should stop the antics for her personal benefit and political advantage,” he said.

Estrada said heads should start rolling at the NBP.

He asked De Lima to relieve Bucayu from his post.

Ping to NBP special panel?

Meanwhile, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III wants former senator and rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson to head a special panel to investigate the anomalies in the NBP.

“That has long been a rotten institution,” Osmeña said in a text message.

De Lima has been busy with other investigations and the designation of a more credible person like Lacson to handle the NBP mess should be the better way to address the issues, he said.

Earlier, Sen. Vicente Sotto recommended the creation of a fact-finding commission to look into the NBP anomalies.

Apart from Lacson, Sotto recommended retired chief justice Reynato Puno and Rep. Luis “Baby” Asistio to be part of the special panel. – With Christina Mendez