Jalosjos seeks executive clemency

After being freed on commuted sentence, convicted child rapist Romeo Jalosjos is seeking absolute pardon.

In a public notice published in The STAR yesterday, the Bureau of Pardons and Parole (BPP) said the former Zamboanga del Norte congressman is among the 36 applicants for presidential pardon whose cases are being reviewed.

“Any interested party may send his/her written objections/comments/ information relevant to the cases... of... prisoners to the undersigned not later than 30 days from date of publication,” BPP executive director Reynaldo Bayang said in the announcement.

The BPP, an attached agency of the Department of Justice, screen applications for pardon and submit its recommendations to the President.

Executive clemency, a power given to the President under Article 7, Section 19 of the Constitution, pertains to reprieve, absolute or condi- tional pardon with or without parole conditions and commutation of sentence of any prisoner.

A court in Makati City sentenced Jalosjos to two life terms after he was convicted for two counts of statutory rape and six counts of acts of lasciviousness in 1996.

Jalosjos walked out of prison in March 2009 after former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo commuted his sentence to 16 years.

He applied for executive clemency in an apparent bid for an elective post because he was also perpetually disqualified from holding public office when he was convicted.

Jalosjos was disqualified when he ran for mayor in the 2013 elections.

Last November, President Duterte granted pardon to actor Robin Padilla, a supporter of his presidential bid, upon the recommendation of the BPP.

Padilla, Robinhood Ferdinand Cariño Padilla in real life, was sentenced to a maximum of 21 years in prison in 1994 for illegal possession of firearms.

He served three years at the New Bilibid Prison before former president Fidel Ramos granted him conditional pardon in 1997.