RULES ON PARDON, PAROLE SIMPLIFIED

Amid the threat of the coronavirus outbreak in the country’s congested prisons, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has relaxed the rules allowing convicts to apply for parole or pardon.

Aside from the simplified requirements, Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete said other proposals were being vetted in response to appeals for the mass release of vulnerable or qualified inmates.

Eligible for parole are prisoners who have served their minimum sentence with no other pending case.

Disqualified from parole are prisoners serving a 40year sentence (reclusion perpetua) or life imprisonment; those convicted of cases involving illegal drugs, treason, piracy, terrorism, plunder or transnational crimes; habitual delinquents, escapees, heinous crime convicts, and those classified as “high risk” by the Bureau of Corrections.

The DOJ resolution also allowed prisoners over 65 years old who have served at least five years of their sentence to apply for executive clemency.

Those eligible for pardon include prisoners who have served at least half of their maximum sentence, and those “whose continued imprisonment is inimical to their health” as certified by a Department of Health physician or a medic designated by the Malacañang clinic director.

The resolution dispensed with most documentary requirements, except for court certifications that the convicts have no pending case or pending appeal. To be prioritized are prisoners who are old, sickly, suffering from terminal or life-threatening illnesses, or with serious disability.

Prisoners paroled or pardoned under this resolution no longer have to report to their parole and probation officers during the period of the COVID-19 national emergency.