(Eagle News)–The suspended chief of the Bureau of Corrections documents and records section on Thursday, Sept. 12, denied he knew anything about Janet Lim Napoles being included in the BuCor list of convicts to be released under the Good Conduct Time Allowance law.
“Wala po akong impormasyon, Your Honor,” Ramoncito Roque said under questioning by Senator Richard Gordon.
Gordon noted that the crime supposedly committed by Napoles, who was convicted of graft and corruption in connection with the pork barrel scam, based on the BuCor list was rape.
“Paano naman nangyari ito si Janet Napoles naconvict sa kasong rape?” he asked, noting that the information came from BuCor itself.
“Isa lamang siya (Napoles) sa mahigit isandaang pangalan na mali mali ang impormasyon,” a visibly irked Gordon said.
The BuCor has said 1914 convicts of heinous crimes were released under the GCTA law that increases the GCTA given to inmates.
A joint Department of Justice and Department of the Interior and Local Government panel is reviewing the guidelines of accreditation of GCTA and the implementing rules and regulations of the law.
The Ombudsman has also asked Senator Leila de Lima, then the justice secretary, and former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas to explain why the IRR they crafted in 2014 did not exclude convicts of heinous crimes from benefiting from the law.
The law itself, the Ombudsman noted, had explicitly excluded this category of inmates from availing of the benefits of the measure.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra has suspended the release of convicts of heinous crimes under the GCTA law pending the joint DOJ-DILG review.With a report from Meanne Corvera
