No Palace word yet on BuCor director’s resignation’

MANILA, Philippines - There is still no confirmation on whether President Aquino has accepted the resignation of Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) director Gaudencio Pangilinan Jr., Malacañang said yesterday.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said that the Office of the President has not yet acted on the resignation letter of Pangilinan.

Valte said the letter was with the President and “I checked with the Office of the Executive Secretary (Paquito) Ochoa and it’s under process.”

“Usually, we come up with the recommendation, and the President either accepts or rejects the resignation,” she said.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima announced on Friday Pangilinan’s resignation. He went on indefinite leave following the investigation into the abduction of murder convict Rolito Go inside the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa last August.

De Lima said there are at least five or six applicants for the top BuCor post now occupied by National Bureau of Investigation deputy director Rafael Ragos as officer-in-charge.

Aquino appointed Pangilinan in June last year to replace former BuCor director Ernesto Diokno, who was removed from the post after the unauthorized trip of former Batangas governor and convicted killer Antonio Leviste outside the national penitentiary a month earlier.

Kabungsuan Makilala, a former assistant head of BuCor’s bids and awards committee, earlier claimed that VIP treatment, prostitution and corruption has worsened at the NBP under Pangilinan.

He even filed a complaint against the BuCor chief before the Office of the Ombudsman.