(Eagle News)–Officials of the Aquino administration should not be blamed for the release of convicts of heinous crimes under the Good Conduct Time Allowance law or Republic Act No. 10592.
This was according to now-Senator Leila de Lima and former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who issued separate statements after the Ombudsman asked them to explain why the GCTA law’s implementing rules and regulations they crafted in 2014 excluded some categories of inmates who could not avail of the benefits of the law that were specified in the law itself.
Section 1 of RA 10592, Ombudsman Samuel Martires noted, bans recidivists, escapees, habitual delinquents and those charged with heinous crimes from availing of the law’s provision that allows the reduction of an inmate’s period of preventive imprisonment from his term of imprisonment and from benefiting from the law itself.
Rule IV Section III of the IRR, however, Martires noted, only disqualifies recidivists, an accused who has been convicted previously twice or more than of any crime, and an accused who failed to voluntarily surrender at the time he was summoned to execute his sentence from coverage of the law’s provision on preventive imprisonment.
“Am I to be treated here as a resource person, a respondent, or a probable respondent? Is this a set-up for me and Sec. Mar into taking the fall for the Sanchez-Faeldon scandal with which we have nothing to do?” De Lima asked, referring to the former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez who was convicted of the rape and murder of Eileen Sarmenta and the murder of Allan Gomez in the 1990s and who was almost released under the GCTA law, and to Nicanor Faeldon, who was sacked as Bureau of Corrections director-general by President Rodrigo Duterte over the mess.
According to Roxas, “halatang gusto na namang ibaling ang atensyon sa iba.”
“Hindi kaya ang dapat imbestigahan ay:
a. ang mga opisyal na nagapruba ng release ng mga kriminal na ito?
b. ang miyembro ng komite na nag approve ng release kahit hindi sinunod ang sarili nilang operations manual?
c. ang mga taong nagbigay ng credits for “good conduct” – totoo nga bang good conduct ang mga ito o imbento lang?” Roxas asked.
Roxas added that since there was a GCTA law, the IRR of the law “ay nakakuwadro sa batas, hindi puwedeng humigit sa RA 10592.”
“Bakit ang mga sumulat ng IRR ang pinupuntirya ninyo?” Roxas asked.
De Lima, for her part, said she found the development “highly irregular.”
“Will consult my lawyers on this,” she added.
A Senate joint panel is probing the GCTA law, following Sanchez’s near-release and the release of convicts of heinous crimes, including some convicted for the rape-slay of the Chiong sisters, under the same.
A joint Department of Justice and Department of the Interior and Local Government committee is so far reviewing the guidelines for accreditation of GCTA and the IRR of the law.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra has suspended the release of inmates under the law pending the review.