MANILA – Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag on Friday ordered the relief of some 300 guards at the maximum security compound of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa.

Bantag said this was in keeping with President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to revamp the bureau.

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He said some of these guards will be retrained, but it’s not yet certain whether they would be allowed to return to the BuCor.

The National Capital Region Police Office, meanwhile, deployed 552 police officers to the state penitentiary.

Bantag replaced Nicanor Faeldon as BuCor chief following revelations that some BuCor officials were selling good conduct time allowance (GCTA) credits to undeserving inmates.

The GCTA allows an inmate to leave prison early on account of good conduct.

More than 2,100 convicts surrendered after Duterte had ordered inmates who were freed under the GCTA law to turn themselves in to authorities. Some of them had been freed after the justice department found out they had been granted parole and were not heinous-crime offenders.

A Senate probe on the GCTA also revealed that even under the Duterte, who is tough on the illegal drug trade, drug lords continued to operate from behind bars. - report from Jerome Lantin

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