(Eagle News)–The Palace on Friday, Aug. 30, said convicts of heinous crimes who were released under the Good Conduct Time Allowance law, or Republic Act 10592, should be sent back to jail.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in the first place, the law, which increases the GCTA given to inmates, is clear it does not apply to convicts of heinous crimes.
Panelo said recidivists, escapees and habitual delinquents could also not benefit from the law, which the Supreme Court ruled in June should be applied retroactively to include inmates who were given a final judgment prior to its enactment or in 2013.
When told that GCTA, once given, could not be revoked under the law, Panelo said: “When you say it cannot be revoked, it assumes that grantee (is) qualified.”
“If they are not qualified, how can you apply that provision?”he asked.
He said such convicts should remain in prison until they shall have served their entire sentence.
Earlier, Senator Panfilo Lacson said several drug lords have been released from the New Bilibid Prison, and from other prisons in Davao and Palawan under the GCTA law.
The Bureau of Immigration confirmed the four Chinese nationals from the NBP were in its custody, and that they were to be deported.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the Chinese nationals would be held, however, pending a review of the implementing rules and regulations of RA 10592 and a review of the guidelines for the computation and processing of GCTA, and until such time a joint Department of Justice and Department of the Interior and Local Government panel tasked to conduct the review determines “the proper course of action with respect to those (persons deprived of liberty) convicted of heinous crimes who might have already been released.”
