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Faeldon takes oath as BuCor chief


Former Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon on Wednesday took his oath as the new director general of the Bureau of Corrections, replacing Ronald dela Rosa, who is seeking a Senate seat in the 2019 midterm polls.

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The erstwhile deputy administrator of the Office of Civil Defense took his oath before Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and may announce his plans for the bureau after early next week's formal turnover of responsibilities, said Justice Undersecretary and spokesperson Markk Perete.

Perete told reporters that Guevarra informed Faeldon of three issues that should be prioritized in the BuCor, namely addressing the alleged problem of illegal drug trading in the New Bilibid Prison, the congestion and security of prisoners, and studying the possibility of transferring some facilities of the bureau to a different locality.

The maximum security facility in the national penitentiary would stay in Muntinlupa City but others may be transferred elsewhere, Perete said, but emphasized that the matter is "not cast in stone yet" and would have to be studied further by Faeldon.

He said two areas have been identified but did not disclose what they were.

Guevarra announced on Tuesday that President Rodrigo Duterte had signed Faeldon's appointment papers, formalizing a designation that was announced as early as October 12.

Faeldon had recently objected to Guevarra's statement that he had not "shown up or said anything" at the BuCor after the "proposed appointment" was announced.

A spokesperson for Faeldon said last week that there can be no appointment until Faeldon receives a copy of official appointment papers. This prompted Guevarra to clarify that the appointment itself had, at the time, not been executed yet.

The Bureau of Corrections Act of 2013 states that the Director General of Corrections is appointed by the president upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Justice, with proper endorsement by the chairman of the Civil Service Commission.

Faeldon resigned from the Bureau of Customs late last year following the controversy over the smuggling of billions of pesos worth of shabu from China. The Department of Justice cleared him of drug smuggling charges last year.

Months later, he was appointed deputy administrator of the OCD, making his BuCor assignment his third public post under the Duterte administration. — RSJ, GMA News

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