(Eagle News)–Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and Interior Secretary Eduardo Año have given the joint Department of Justice and Department of the Interior and Local Government panel another 60 days to complete its work.
In joint department order number 2, Guevarra and Año said the additional 60 days were for the panel to complete its review of the Uniform Policy and Guidelines on the computation of credits and allowances under Republic Act No. 10592 or the Good Conduct Time Allowance law.
The law reduces the sentence of an inmate for good conduct.
The extension, which the panel itself had asked for, was given as both Año and Guevarra signed on Monday, Sept. 16, the revised IRR of the GCTA law recommended by the panel after its review of the same was completed on Sept. 12.
The panel had also been tasked to conduct the review of the IRR, which the Palace had blamed on the release of convicts of heinous crimes under the law.
The Ombudsman, which is probing the GCTA law, has asked then-Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and then-Interior Secretary Mar Roxas to explain why the IRR which they crafted in 2014 do not explicitly exclude convicts of heinous crimes from availing of the benefits of the law.
The law itself, the Ombudsman noted, had explicitly excluded this category of inmates from benefiting from the measure.
Guevarra and Año have asked the panel to submit their recommendations on the guidelines and uniform policy to them upon completion of their work.
