Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. said the bureau is in urgent need of new recruits with technical qualifications to enhance its personnel capacity.

To address this, Catapang ordered the modification of training courses to attract more applicants and meet the agency’s requirements.

The BuCor is currently experiencing shortages in several highly technical professions, including medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists, teachers, guidance counselors, and priests, primarily due to the physical demands of the training process for applicants.

Catapang highlighted the bureau-wide shortage of doctors, noting a concerning ratio of one doctor per 5,371 persons deprived of liberty, far from the ideal ratio of one doctor per 700 PDLs.

This gap is expected to worsen with the impending retirement of one of the 10 doctors in the service by the end of the year, with two more retiring next year.

“Applicants are hesitant to apply to BuCor because they are afraid of the physical training and, of course, they don’t want to get a military haircut,” Catapang said.

To address this issue, the bureau plans to shorten the training period for applicants with highly technical qualifications to 45 days instead of six months. Their training will focus on an executive training course without the rigorous physical activities that are typically required.