The Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday suspended three more Bureau of Corrections officials for the release of heinous crime convicts, bringing the total to 30.
Ombudsman Samuel Martires ordered the Department of Justice to immediately place Frederic Anthony Santos, BuCor’s Legal Division chief; Correctional Officer III Joel Nalva, and Supt. Maria Fe Marquez under six-month preventive suspension without pay.
Marquez signed an Aug. 16 order for the early release of three convicts in the 1997 abduction, rape and murder of sister Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong in Cebu.
In a Sept. 2 Senate hearing, Marquez said she received a special order designating her as one of the duty generals to have “full blanket authority to perform the function of the Director General” while then BuCor chief Nicanor Faeldon was away.
Martires said Santos, Nalva and Marquez have been charged with grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
“Testimonies of witnesses and the public documents gathered disclose that respondents, in [his/her] official capacity, and in the course of the performance of his public functions, allowed the questionable release of prison convicts in violation of the provisions of Republic Act No. 10592,” the Ombudsman’s decision read.
On Monday, Martires issued a six-month preventive suspension order on Chief Supt. Gerardo Padilla; Senior Supt. Celso Bravo; SPO2 Ramoncito Roque; Insp. Benjamin Barrios, Maximum Security Group supervisor; PSII Francisco Abunales, New Bilibid Prison superintendent; Senior Supt. Melencio Faustino, regional superintendent of Davao Prison and Penal Farm; Cherry Caliston, Documents Division chief at the Davao Penal Colony and Farm; Ruelito Pulmano, liason officer; Insp. Emerita Aguilar, Reformation and Rehabilitation Office chief; Insp. Raymund Peneyra, Maximum Security Compound chief overseer; CO1 Jomar Coria, NBP South Reformation coordinator; Insp. Roy Vivo, Maximum Security Compound chief of guards; Senior Supt. Wilfredo Bayona, NBP South deputy superintendent; CO3 John Edward Basi, Reformation and Rehabilitation Office assistant chief at the NBP Maximum Security Compound; Insp. Abel Ciruela, Maximum Security Compound chief; Insp. Roger Boncales of NBP North; PGII Eduardo Cabuhat, Training and Education Office officer in charge; Dr. Ma. Lourdes Razon, Medical and Dental Office officer in charge; Mary Lou Arbatin, Behavior Modification Office chief; Susana Ortega, Prison Industry Office officer in charge at the Maximum Security Compound; PGIII Anthony Nupable Omega, Sports and Recreation Office officer in charge at the Maximum Security Compound; PGII Antonio Calumpit, Maximum Security Compound overseer; Supt. Roberto Rabo, NBP superintendent; Insp. Jones Lanuza, reformation deputy superintendent at the NBP; SO1 Victor de Monteverde, Alternative Learning System chief at the Maximum SecurityCompound, Maribel Bancil, correctional senior inspector at the NBP, and Veronica Buño, Custodial Officer at the NBP.
Two of those tagged for suspension are already dead. Abunales was killed on Sept. 17, 2013, while Rabo died Feb. 24.
The Bureau of Corrections will immediately serve to its 27 officials the order of the Office of the Ombudsman placing them under preventive suspension without pay for six months.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra made the assurance, saying BuCor officer-in-charge Deputy Director General for Security and Operations Melvin Ramon Buenafe will execute the serving of the
notices of preventive suspension to the concerned BuCor officials.
“The DOJ has officially received today the Ombudsman’s order dated 09 September 2019 for the preventive suspension for six months without pay of 27 BuCor officials who are respondents in OMB-C-A-19-0183 for grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service,” Guevarra said.
“The DOJ, through its oversight committee, will direct the BuCoR OIC to serve the notices of preventive suspension and implement it immediately,” he added.
Guevarra also instructed Buenafe to undertake measures to ensure that the suspension of the 27 BuCor officials would not disrupt the day-to-day operations at the national penitentiary.
“We will confer with the OIC and find ways to continue normal operations with the least disruption,” he said.
The anti-graft body placed the said BuCor officials under preventive suspension after initial evidence showed there is a strong possibility that they are connected with the questionable release of the 1,914 inmates who were convicted for heinous crimes and were released by virtue of their Good Conduct Time Allowance.
Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete said that the Department of Interior and Local Government might have based its earlier statement that several convicts who were released as a result of the GCTA have left the country, on “raw reports.”
“Our understanding is that the DILG made the statement based on reports that reached them. However, counter-checking of the real identities of the individuals can only be done by the Bureau of Immigration,” he said.