DoJ urges Palace: Grant PDLs’ clemency
The number includes the more than 300 names of inmates the Justice department submitted to Malacañang for clemency in September 2022
The Department of Justice is pushing the Executive Department to grant executive clemency for over 1,000 qualified inmates in various prison facilities ran by the Bureau of Corrections.
DoJ spokesperson Jose Dominic Clavano said that the agency recently asked the Office of the Executive Secretary to hasten the approval of the clemency that has already the support of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The number includes the more than 300 names of inmates the Justice department submitted to Malacañang for clemency in September 2022.
“We made a follow-up with Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and we told him about our desire for the immediate release of the executive clemency that we recommended since September,” Clavano said.
“We already followed it up with Executive Secretary Bersamin and we told him that since it had the support of President Bongbong Marcos to expedite the release of the executive clemency, including the one we recommended last September,” he added.
Earlier, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said he would work for the immediate release of inmates qualified for parole or clemency as part of the government’s measures to decongest the country’s prison facilities, particularly the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City.
The NBP, the country’s main penitentiary, has a total inmate population of 29, 204 as of October 2022, though it had an intended capacity of only 6, 345 when it was constructed in 1940.
Prison facilities under the BuCor’s control include the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan, San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro, Leyte Regional Prison and the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City-are also experiencing similar congestion problems.
Last year, Remulla committed to release up to 5, 000 elderly and sick inmates and those who completed their maximum sentence by June 2023.
Meantime, Bureau of Corrections acting director general Gregorio Catapang Jr. earlier said they are mulling the possibility of asking the President to extend executive clemency to inmates 70 years old and above to help decongest the country’s prison facilities.
Clavano on the other hand said 500 more inmates who were qualified to be released will gain their freedom on 23 January which is the largest batch to be released since the DoJ and BuCor started the monthly release of qualified inmates.