(Eagle News)–Three senators are moving to repeal in its entirety the Good Conduct Time Allowance law, following the release under the same of convicts of heinous crimes.
In filing Senate Bill No. 993 that seeks to repeal the amendments in Articles 29, 94, 97, 98 and 99 of the Revised Penal Code as contained under the GCTA law or Republic Act 10592, Senate President Tito Sotto and Senators Panfilo Lacson and Richard Gordon noted that the law “has been subject to abuse by the persons allowed by law to grant time allowances.”
They added that while the law’s intent to decongest prisons was “laudable,” its enactment “caused an absurd interpretation and its very provisions needed harmonization.”
“The law is always changing. It is usually reactive to what the society dictates and it constantly reflects changes that occurs in our society because a law is simply never perfect,” the senators said.
In this case, they noted that while the provision on GCTA has been in effect since the 1930s, it has never raised the kind of concern it raised now among members of the public and the government.
This concern came following the near-release of former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez, who was convicted of the murder and rape of Eileen Sarmenta, and the killing of her friend Allan Gomez in the 1990s.
“Thus, it is an opportune time to go back to the old law where no question of proper implementation has been put forth to the government and prisoners are enjoying its benefits without a question of the propriety of its applicability on them,” they said.
Earlier, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon filed a resolution calling for “remedial legislation” to the GCTA law.
Senator Bong Go filed a similar resolution that includes some of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra’s recommended amendments to the GCTA law: an enumeration of crimes considered to be heinous, a provision that explicitly excludes convicts of heinous crimes from coverage of the law, and a provision on the oversight function of Congress, among others.
