By ANTHONY IAN CRUZ
Malaya
December 27, 200
BUREAU of Corrections (BuCor) director Ricardo Dapat has been relieved by President Arroyo and will be replaced by former PNP chief Oscar Calderon.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez yesterday said the President did not cite any reason for sacking Dapat. He said Calderon will serve as acting BuCor director “effective immediately.”
Dapat found himself at center of controversy after convicted child rapist and former Zamboanga del Norte congressman Romeo Jalosjos last Dec. 15 showed to media a “release order” signed by prison authorities.
Gonzalez has said the document was “never released officially” and what Jalosjos had in his possession was a photocopy. He said Jalosjos will serve out his commuted term at the New Bilibid Prisons until July 2009.
Former BuCor director Vicente Vinarao Tuesday blamed Dapat for the Jalosjos mess.
He said that while Jalosjos is considered a “minimum security” risk, Dapat should have kept tabs on his whereabouts and have penitentiary guards record his movements.
Jalosjos “escaped” from the NBP in Muntinlupa city last Dec. 22 and arrived in Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte on a private plane.
He was rearrested the next day and jailed at the San Ramon prison and penal colony in Zamboanga City.
He was sentenced to two life terms in 1997 for raping an 11-year-old girl. Last April, President Arroyo commuted his sentence to 16 years.
Calderon, of PMA Class ’74, was PNP chief from July 2006 until his retirement on Oct. 1, 2007.
He succeeded Arturo Lomibao who was appointed head of the National Irrigation Administration and later chief of the Land Transportation Office.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said sanctions stronger than a reprimand await those proven to have erred in facilitating the escape of Jalosjos.
Ermita said Jalosjos could not have left the NBP compound “without any collusion or complicity of people.”
He said the Palace expects a report along with a recommendation from Gonzalez by tomorrow.
Ermita reiterated the President is not bound by the DOJ recommendation.
Ermita said the DOJ probe is not only focused on Jalosjos’ caper but would also look into directives issued by Gonzalez which could have been violated or ignored. — With Jocelyn Montemayor