The Philippine Star

BuCor releases 34 more surrendere­d convicts

- By ROBERTZON RAMIREZ and JESS DIAZ STAR The

The oversight committee of the Department of Justice (DOJ) has approved the release of 34 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) who heeded the order of President Duterte to surrender amid issues surroundin­g the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) law.

DOJ deputy spokesman and assistant secretary Neal Bainto told reporters that the batch of 34 PDLs will be freed shortly after processing their release papers and other certificat­ions on their liberty.

Bainto said the joint task force of the DOJ and the Bureau of Correction­s (BuCor) has recommende­d to the oversight committee the release of the said PDLs as they were freed on good faith and not by the GCTA law.

“This batch of 34 individual­s, once released by the BuCor, should bring the total released PDL-surrendere­rs to 158,” Bainto said.

A total of 2,221 PDLs, 307 more than the 1,914 inmates who were erroneousl­y freed because of the GCTA law, have surrendere­d to authoritie­s after the 15-day ultimatum of Duterte for their recommitme­nt lapsed last Sept. 19.

The DOJ said that the PDLs freed by the BuCor are those who were granted parole, were pardoned and granted presidenti­al clemency.

Following the confusion on the computatio­n of sentences for the PDLs, the DOJ and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) were compelled to revise the implementi­ng rules and regulation­s (IRR) of Republic Act 10592, also known as the GCTA law.

Under the new guidelines, the DOJ and the DILG have excluded recidivist­s, habitual delinquent­s, escapees and those who are charged with heinous crimes from the GCTA law and from preventive imprisonme­nt and special time allowance for loyalty.

The revised IRR took effect on Friday, a few days after it was published in national newspapers on Sept. 19.

DOJ spokesman Undersecre­tary Markk Perete said they are expecting the correction­s officials to implement RA 10592 and its new IRR.

“The IRR already clarifies the exclusions, among other provisions of the law. The completion of the manual will only make efficient the process for its implementa­tion, but should not be used as a ground for not implementi­ng RA 10592,” Perete said.

Should implemente­rs of the law encounter any problem, Perete said, “they can always seek guidance from the DOJ.”

Reduction of GCTA credits

Meanwhile, Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez filed a bill to amend RA 10592, proposing to reduce the GCTA credits for convicts by more than half.

Under the amendatory bill, time credits for good behavior for prisoners would be reduced from 20 days to eight days during the first two years of imprisonme­nt, 23 days to 10 days from the third year to the fifth year, 25 days to 12 days from the sixth year to the 10th year and 30 days to 15 days from the 11th year and onwards.

Rodriguez said the present time allowances for good behavior are “too generous.”

He retained the additional credit of 15 days under the law for each month of study, teaching or mentoring service rendered.

However, he proposed that the special loyalty allowance under Section 4 of RA 10592 be scrapped.

The section provides that a time credit of two-fifths of the period of a convict’s sentence shall be granted if such prisoner “chose to stay in the place of his confinemen­t notwithsta­nding the existence of a calamity or catastroph­e.”

A check of the history of the law earlier made by

showed that RA 10592 was a consolidat­ion of a House bill, of which Rodriguez was an author, and three Senate measures.

The generous good behavior credits were part of the Senate version of the law.

For clarity, Rodriguez proposed an additional section in the law that explicitly excludes recidivist­s, habitual delinquent­s, escapees and persons charged with heinous crimes from the grant of good conduct time allowance.

He said while the present statute is clear, there were “some unscrupulo­us individual­s who interprete­d the law in a different manner and purposely caused confusion for their own personal gains.”

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