BJMP men ask Ombudsman to relieve Alit

Rank and file personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) have asked the Office of the Ombudsman to relieve BJMP chief, General Arturo Alit, for allegedly falsifying public documents and perjury.

According to Superintendent Renato Gacutan, head of the BJMP’s rank and file, Alit should be dismissed from the service because he does not have the credentials for the position.

Gacutan said that it has been established that the controversial jail chief does not hold a master’s degree in criminology, which is an important requirement for the head of the bureau.

This, despite Alit’s claims that he obtained a degree through "long-distance learning" from the International University of Missouri in the United States from 1997 to 1998.

But Gacutan said that what the BJMP chief took up in the said university was not a course but merely a seminar and workshop on "modern trends and issues in criminology" which was authorized by then Local Government Secretary Robert Barbers.

Although rank and file employees did not touch on Alit’s facing other administrative charges, they said that the Ombudsman could order the immediate dismissal of the jail chief from the service because of "overwhelming evidence."

Gacutan has also submitted a position paper to the Presidential Management Staff, objecting to the inclusion of Alit in the selection of the permanent BJMP chief.

According to civil service rules, no government official or personnel can be considered for promotion, and can even be relieved, if he has a pending criminal and administrative case. – Matthew Estabillo