JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has appointed an officer-in-charge at the Bureau of Corrections after its previous chief, Benjamin delos Santos, resigned over a resurgence of illegal drugs inside the New Bilibid Prison.
Delos Santos resigned after Aguirre ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate reports that illegal drugs were once again being bought and sold in the national penitentiary.
Although Delos Santos left under a cloud, he said he had left his mark on a bureau that has been wracked by corruption scandals.
“I am confident that the seeds of change have been amply spread in the rough and rugged road towards a reformed BuCor,” he said. “I am sure a capable successor will pick up from where I have contributed in our drive to stop drugs, crime and corruption.”
We are not as certain.
In fact, a resurgence in the illegal drug trade inside the national penitentiary would be a disgrace in any government, but it should be particularly galling to an administration that has made the war on illegal drugs the cornerstone of its peace-and-order agenda.
That jail officials have failed to contain the drug problem inside the national penitentiary was driven home by President Rodrigo Duterte earlier this month, when he spoke at the 26th anniversary of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
As inmates in the national penitentiary still have access to mobile phones, the President said, the illegal drug trade continues.
Not too long ago, this administration charged and arrested the Justice secretary of the previous administration over the same problem.
It even made a big to-do about assigning commandos from the police Special Action Force to guard the jail.
But now, Aguirre wants the SAF troops removed, saying that some of them may have become too “familiar” with the drug environment inside the prison, an assessment that has not sat well with Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa, who is quick to say the SAF troopers guard only the maximum security compound and do not have control over the rest of the prison, where some high-profile drug convicts are jailed.
All of this, however, is irrelevant to the public, which merely wishes to see an end to the drug trade, as the President promised.
It would certainly not speak well of this administration’s ability to solve the illegal drug problem in society, if it cannot even do so within the narrow confines of the national penitentiary, where it should have full control.