Why is Pres. Aquino keeping BuCor chief
While the Office of the Ombudsman has been tasked to investigate the corruption at the New Bilibid Prison, so far all the top officers have all been relieved except for Bureau of Corrections Chief Franklin Bucayo, just when another surprise raid was conducted by the Department of Justice. But what we got in the news was that Pres. Benigno "PNoy" Aquino III has accepted the resignation of Health Secretary Enrique Ona. What we expected the president to do was fire Bucor Chief Bucayo, but he has not fired him, which is very surprising.
Meanwhile, the rumors coming out of the coffeehouses of Metro Manila is that elements of the Philippine National Police have already informed Justice Sec. Leila de Lima about those luxurious rooms within the NBP, but the big question was how come it was only last week that she finally conducted that surprise raid? Wags have it that, those 18 drug lords paid a P2 million monthly to corrupt officials which could very well include DOJ officials linked to the Bucor. Could this be the reason why it took the justice secretary at least a year before she made her move?
Who was it who wrote in Facebook that the NBP is a micro chasm of Philippine society and I could not agree more with this observation. In the Bilibid prison, if you are a poor prisoner, you had no hope of getting a better life. You slept on bunks just like everyone else. Who had to rotate their sleeping hours because of lack of rooms and beds. But the rich drug lords are allowed a luxurious bathtub with Jacuzzi, wide screen TV and a karaoke bar that made prison life at least bearable.
What is worse is that, the guns found in the NBP were registered under the names of Congressmen, who now refused to see the police. Their names have not yet been made public to the media pending their investigation. They have not appeared to answer the allegations by police or NBI investigators. If you ask me, it is high time to expose the names of those members of Congress whom we all suspect are playing their narcopolitics card.
The corruption in this country has become an epidemic, which is why unless we change our system of governance in a top to bottom overhaul, we can never hope to change our ways. We need to fix our system of governance now lest another revolution takes place, which I fear could be a bloody one.
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So finally, former Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, head of the Office of the Presidential Assistant on Rehabilitation and Recovery have tendered his resignation effective on Feb. 10, 2015. Why so soon Mr. Lacson? When he accepted this job a year ago, the former senator boasted that he would finish his job and his task before Pres. Aquino would exit in 2016. This is the problem with Sen. Lacson, he accepts the job with the full knowledge that the government bureaucracy would be a major stumbling block to his progress. But then it was the only way for Filipinos to have the name of Sen. Lacson always in their minds.
With the 2016 a presidential election year, Lacson wants to position himself as "available" to any political party that would take him in. Being a full-blown "trapo" Ping Lacson knows that if he stays with the Liberal Party they may not win in next year's elections. Of course as of the moment, the LP is enjoying the huge advantage of having the Comelec under their pockets. In fact the P2.5 billion for the automated elections has gone on full speed despite our warnings and protestations of the massive electronic cheating that happened in the 2010 and 2016 national elections.
It is for this reason why the National Transformation Councils during its nationwide assemblies from Lipa City to General Santos City has demanded the resignation of the Aquino government whom we consider de facto officials by virtue of the fact that they were elected by machines and not the Filipino people.
Meanwhile, Lacson is seeking for the creation of a permanent Disaster and Relief agency that would handle the government's rehabilitation efforts. While this maybe a good suggestion, may I suggest to Lacson that when he hands over his post to whom Pres. Aquino would name, he must clear this body as to how much money was given to the Philippines by foreign nations who gave so much when they learned how super typhoon "Yolanda" decimated places like Tacloban, Guiuan, northern Cebu and Panay. Indeed so much money was given to the Office of the president who now could not account for all these foreign money. I understand that of the billions given to the Philippines, the Office of the President could only account for US$14 million dollars. So where's the rest Sen. Lacson?
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