BuCor: Misfits not welcome

The Bureau of Corrections has been coordinating with the National Bureau of Investigation since day one after it was established that one of the suspects in the killing of a mother and son last month was a corrections officer, according to BuCor Director General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr.

“We have provided the NBI with the information needed in their investigation, which subsequently led to the arrest of Corrections Officers 1 Pio Jonathan Eulalio,” Catapang said.

On 13 July, Catapang said they had sent a communication to Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla to inform him of the development.

Catapang said Eulalio was suspended and was eventually dismissed as there was no place for misfits in the bureau. “That is one of the reasons why I am here, to cleanse the bureau of scalawags,” he said.

He said that from 2022 to date, 23 BuCor personnel have been dismissed from the prison service, 53 were suspended, 21 reprimanded, and 179 formally charged for various offenses.

Proper conduct of officers

The BuCor even hired Dr. Raymund Narag for a series of lectures on principles of effective management to equip corrections officers with knowledge on dealing with persons deprived of liberty (PDL).

The agency also created a technical working group for a feasibility study on the establishment of the Philippines Corrections Academy, aside from activating the Directorate for Personnel Education and Training Service and the creating a Master’s Education and Training Program for a Junior and Senior Custodial Supervisory Course, and program officer basic and advanced courses for custodial officers.

“Although what happened is an isolated case, I will also push for the strengthening of the monitoring system of released PDLs from correction facilities and work closely with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Department of Labor and Employment, and Department of the Interior and Local Government for the employment of released PDLs,” Catapang said.

Eulalio, who was assigned to the Escorting Unit of the New Bilibid Prison, had been on leave since the commission of the crime until he was arrested in a rented safehouse at Kensington Lancaster on F. Manalo Road, Barangay Navarro, General Trias, Cavite on 12 July, a day after the arrest of his suspected cohort, Raymond D. Reyes, a former PDL.

Catapang said that Eulalio, Reyes, and two unidentified others who remain at large were arrested in connection with the killing of Christian Ortega and his mother, Gloria Ortega, 70, a businesswoman, both of Barangay Baesa, Quezon City.

Bucor data showed that Reyes was released through a Certificate of Discharge from Prison signed by then Acting Superintendent of the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm, CCINSP Angelito Lapitan, on 24 April this year after serving his maximum sentence for homicide, where he was sentenced to from seven years to 15 years.

Prior to his transfer to BuCor on 11 June 2019, Reyes had been detained at the Quezon City Jail since 25 August 2012. Eulalio, on the other hand, had been in the service as CO1 since 2020.