BuCor execs warned: Remove wall or face raps

MANILA, Philippines — Two ranking congressmen warned Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officials to remove a wall put up to block a road in the New Bilibid Prison reservation or face charges before the Office of the Ombudsman.

House justice committee chair Vicente Veloso III and national defense committee vice chair Ruffy Biazon warned that failure to dismantle the wall would lead to a case against BuCor officials for violation of Section 3, Paragraph E of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

“My appeal to (BuCor chief Gerald) Bantag is to fix this mess and remove the wall,” Veloso said during a panel hearing on the issue earlier this week.

Veloso, congressman of Leyte and a retired justice of the Court of Appeals, echoed the proposition by Biazon in a resolution seeking the dismantling of the wall.

Biazon’s House Resolution 1666 stated that the road closure is a nuisance, as defined in the Civil Code of the Philippines.

The Insular Prison Road has been identified as the main entry and exit point of around 8,000 families residing in Southville 3, a government housing project to help Muntinlupa residents living along railroad tracks who needed to be relocated, according to Biazon.

In the same hearing, Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi reported that BuCor did not secure a permit for the wall and “it is in excess of BuCor’s authority if it is only for security reasons.”