BETWEEN 5,000 and 9,000 inmates out of the 27,311 convicted of heinous crimes are expected to immediately benefit from a recent Supreme Court ruling, Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said yesterday.
The ruling states that those convicted of heinous crimes can also avail themselves of provisions of Republic Act 10592 or the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA).
Catapang said the High Court has ruled with finality on the issue, although the tribunal has yet to issue a copy of the ruling as of press time.
Catapang said he has formed a technical working group to come up with new guidelines in computing credit but assured that inmates who are sickly, terminally ill and aged 70 years and above would be prioritized.
He said that 9,168 inmates convicted of heinous crimes will be eligible for release if the computation is based on date of detention or 5,039 if the computation is based on the dates they are received in BuCor prison facilities.
“It was already approved with finality and we are preparing for implementing rules and regulations to implement this,” he said.
To recall, the Court en banc issued a ruling in April that nullified the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Department of Justice (DOJ) excluding persons convicted of heinous crimes from availing themselves of the benefits of the GCTA law.
The Court en banc held that when RA 10592 amended Article 97 of the Revised Penal Code, it used the connecting conjunction “or” to express that “any offender qualified for credit imprisonment pursuant to Article 29 of the Revised Penal Code,” and in the alternative “any convicted prisoner in any penal institution, rehabilitation, or detention center in any other local jail” may avail of the benefits granted by the GCTA law.
The SC ruling explained that the DOJ IRR expanded the scope of the law when it excludes inmates convicted of heinous crimes, recidivists, habitual delinquents, and escapees from earning GCTA credits.
Catapang said the SC upheld its ruling last August 20 after the magistrates denied the appeal of the DOJ for failing to raise new arguments that would warrant the reversal of the assailed ruling.
Catapang assured the public of an orderly process to prevent a repeat of the 2019 incident when the BuCor under then former Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon released thousands of inmates due to flawed records and alleged tampering of GCTA records.
The flawed BuCor records led to the release of an erroneous list of 1,914 heinous crime convicts who were later hunted and or asked to return to detention by authorities.
One of the prisoners who nearly gained freedom due to the GCTA confusion was former Calauan, Laguna mayor Antonio Sanchez who was convicted for the rape-slay of UP Los Baños students Eileen Sarmenta and Alan Gomez.
The Senate also conducted an inquiry in connection with allegations that some inmates were forced to pay prison officials P50,000 to P1.5 million in order to be released by tampering with their good behavior records.
The controversy also led to the sacking of Faeldon and prompted the Department of Justice to tighten regulations, forbidding those convicted of heinous crimes from availing themselves of the GCTA benefits.
“We don’t want to repeat that kind of experience,” Catapang said.
Catapang said among the heinous crimes covered by the SC ruling are treason, piracy, qualified piracy, qualified bribery, parricide, murder, infanticide, kidnapping with serious illegal detention, robbery with violence or intimidation, destructive arson, rape, plunder, and illegal drugs and carnapping.
He said the BuCor would also seek the guidance of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on the issue.
“One of his instructions before was to make sure that the multiple heinous crime offenders will be set aside first because of the seriousness of their offenses,” he said.
Under Department Order 652, the release of persons deprived of liberty incarcerated in national penitentiaries with expired sentences shall be approved by the BuCor Director General or his duly authorized representative, while the release of inmates sentenced to life imprisonment or reclusion perpetua or those classified as high-risk or high-profile shall be implemented only upon prior approval of the Secretary of Justice.
The official said inmates will have to undergo additional psychological tests before they would be freed.
“We don’t want to release people who are still unstable. And we don’t want to release them, they go back to society and they commit another crime again, and then come back to us,” he said.
“We just want to make sure that citizens are equally protected. We’re not really cutting off their release but we want to make sure that when they are released back to society, they will not be a burden, number one. They will not be a threat to society and that they are really stable to go back and be part of our society,” he added.
