Editorial - Chaos at the BJMP

Anyone who wants a good example of a mess in government should go to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. Nearly a year after a new government took over, personnel at the BJMP still don’t know who will head the bureau. The BJMP has jurisdiction over detention centers nationwide for newly arrested suspects and inmates who have not yet been convicted. With two men claiming the bureau’s top post, BJMP personnel aren’t sure whose orders should be followed.

Vying for bureau director are two police officers, Chief Superintendent Arturo Alit and Senior Superin-tendent Josue Engaño. The case has reached the courts, and both men have been issuing press statements about the case, trumpeting their qualifications for the job and hitting the other party.

With the leadership question still in limbo, Interior Secretary Jose Lina decided to step in, assuming the post of BJMP director. Lina’s department has jurisdiction over the bureau and the national police, and he said he needed to assume the BJMP’s top post to ensure that there would be no disruption in its services. As head of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Lina already has enough on his plate, worrying about peace and order as well as services delivered by local government units.

This is not the first time that leadership in the bureau was contested. In the previous administra-tion, there were questions raised about the appointment of a retired police officer to a post that requires someone in the active service. Does the public really care who leads this bureau? All that matters is that inmates are kept in detention and that jail services function smoothly. Because of the leadership fiasco, however, there has been a mass jailbreak in Bohol and inmates don’t know when they can get a decent meal because the food budget has been frozen.

What is so special about this post that two officers are spending money on lawyers to get it? The case is currently before the Court of Appeals and is expected to go all the way up to the Supreme Court. How long will Lina wear this new hat? Both Alit and Engaño are under the executive department. Can’t a simple order from President Arroyo settle this leadership question? If both men lack the qualifications for the post, why not pick someone else from the thousands of officers from the national police or the BJMP? This time, the President should tell her headhunters to do their homework.