Explain Palparan interview, BuCor chief told

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice (DOJ) has ordered Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag to explain why he should not be sanctioned for allowing convicted kidnapper Jovito Palparan to be interviewed by a news channel.

“It’s a show-cause memo asking him why no disciplinary action should be taken against persons responsible for this unauthorized interview,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in a radio interview.

Guevarra’s statement came after he was asked for an update on Palparan’s interview with SMNI. He said they are still waiting for Bantag’s explanation, adding that they conducted an internal investigation on the matter.

Guevarra said they want to know if BuCor followed proper procedures in allowing persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) to be interviewed, especially in the case of Palparan, a former Army general serving his sentence in the New Bilibid Prison for the disappearance of two University of the Philippines students.

Guevarra said that under BuCor rules, the bureau should have asked permission from the DOJ before granting a media interview for a PDL.

BuCor did not ask the DOJ’s permission for Palparan’s interview, according to Guevarra, who stressed that DOJ officials learned of the interview only when it was aired on SMNI and posted on social media.

BuCor spokesman Gabriel Chaclag said SMNI’s request for an interview “had gone through the usual process, just like the other interviews done by numerous news outfits on many PDLs in the past. We believe there was nothing irregular in that.”— Ralph Edwin Villanueva