OVER 1,000 inmates currently languishing in various prison facilities operated by the Bureau of Corrections have been recommended for executive clemency, according to the Department of Justice.
DOJ spokesperson Jose Dominic Clavano yesterday said the number includes the names of more than 300 recommended for clemency in September last year.
Clavano said the DOJ recently followed up the request with the Office of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.
“We already followed it up with Executive Secretary Bersamin and we told him that since it has the support of President Marcos, maybe we can expedite the release of the executive clemency, including the one we recommended last September,” Clavano said.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla had vowed to work for the release of inmates qualified for parole or clemency to decongest the country’s prison facilities, including the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.
The NBP, the country’s main penitentiary, has a total inmate population of 29,204 as of October 2022 although it was only intended to hold 6,345 when it was constructed in 1940.
The rest of the BuCor’s operating prisons — Davao Prison and Penal Farm, Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan, San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro, Leyte Regional Prison and the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City — are also experiencing congestion problems.
Remulla had committed to release up to 5,000 elderly and sick inmates and those who completed their maximum sentence by June 2023.
BuCor officer in charge Gregorio Catapang earlier said they are mulling the possibility of asking the President to extend executive clemency to inmates aged 70 and above to help decongest the country’s prison facilities.
Clavano said 500 more inmates qualified to be released will gain their freedom on January 23. It would be the largest batch to be released since the DOJ and BuCor started the monthly release of qualified inmates.
Last October 26, 357 inmates gained their freedom, followed by 234 on November 24 and 328 last December 19.
Clavano added that since Marcos assumed the presidency last year, the DOJ and BuCor had released almost 4,000 inmates.
Data from BuCor showed 3,476 inmates from Bilibid and other prison facilities were released since June last year, including 1,608 from the national penitentiary.
This was followed by 781 from the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, 271 from the Correctional Institute for Women, 244 from the Leyte Regional Prison, and 223 from Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm.
The BuCor previously said there were 3,086 inmates aged 65 to 96 confined at the NBP and other operating prisons.
