(Eagle News)–A Senate panel will invite former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to the hearing on the Good Conduct Time Allowance law.
Senator Richard Gordon, blue ribbon panel chair, made the revelation in a radio interview on Saturday, Sept. 14.
In inviting Aguirre to the Sept. 19 hearing, Gordon noted then-Justice Secretary Alfredo Caguioa issued Department Order No. 953 which requires the approval of the Justice secretary prior to the release of convicts sentenced to reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment.
“Ang problema bakit si Secretary Caguiao nakita niya agad. Bakit di nakita nina Secretary de Lima, ‘di nakita ng Secretary Aguirre?” Gordon asked.
The Senate inquiry into the GCTA law, which reduces the sentence of inmates for good conduct, was set following outrage over the release of convicts of heinous crimes under the GCTA law, and reports GCTA was being sold to inmates by unscrupulous Bureau of Corrections personnel.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra has suspended the release of convicts under the GCTA law pending the work of a joint Department of Justice and Department of the Interior and Local Government review of the implementing rules and regulations of the law and the guidelines for GCTA accreditation.
The panel has submitted the revised IRR of the law to Guevarra and Interior Secretary Eduardo Año but has asked for an extension for the submission of the revised guidelines.
