Catapang hails PDEA for busting BuCor ‘misfit’

Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. yesterday congratulated the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), one of its partners in the anti-illegal drugs campaign, following the arrest of three persons, including a corrections officer in a narcotics bust operation Friday night in Parañaque City.

This as Catapang ordered the discharge from the service of Corrections Officer 1 Paul Patrick Toledo, assigned to the maximum security compound of the New Bilibid Prison.

Toledo along with Reynold Teodoro, 30, a security guard of 1386 Algeciras, Dimasalang, Manila, and Romeo T. Guerrero, 34, truck driver of Katwell, Merville, Parañaque City, were arrested in a bust operation conducted by PDEA at Skate Park, Bulungan, Parañaque City.

Ten kilos of suspected shabu with a street value of P68 million was seized, along with a pistol with eight live ammunition, identification cards, official receipts, two cellphones, two wallets, one-piece genuine P1,000 bill on top of bundles of boodle money used in the buy-bust operation and two vehicles.

“As I said before, we will not condone misfits in our agency as we intensify our efforts to cleanse the bureau of misguided personnel who refuse to heed our call for them to mend their ways and change for the better,” Catapang said.

He vowed to flush out and unmask corrections officers involved in illegal activities hiding behind BuCor uniforms, adding “there are a few misfits in the bureau that they would unmask and remove from the service.”

The BuCor in April this year signed a memorandum of agreement with the PDEA, National Bureau of Investigation, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and the Philippine National Police to synchronize their anti-illegal drug efforts that paved the way for the creation of an Inter-Agency Collaborative Group against drug trafficking, which is already operational within BuCor facilities.

It is also working in close coordination and collaboration with PDEA as all personnel and visitors of persons deprived of liberty arrested for smuggling illegal drugs inside the penology were turned over to them for proper investigation and disposition, including the confiscated illegal drugs and cellphones for forensic examination and analysis.