SC ‘retroactive’ ruling on good conduct means freedom for 200 inmates per day

The mayor wanted the "pretty young lass," witnesses said. So his men brought her to him as a "gift."

Armed men abducted Eileen Sarmenta and her friend, Allan Gomez, from inside a parked Tamaraw van at the University of the Philippines-Los Baños and brought them to a farm owned by then Calauan, Laguna mayor Antonio Sanchez on June 28, 1993. Their bodies were found the next day.

The star witnesses: two men who admitted to having been involved in kidnapping the two college students but denied participating in what was found to be the gang rape of Sarmenta and the double killings that the Supreme Court said "drew strong condemnation from an outraged populace."

In 1995, after 16 months of trial, a Pasig judge convicted the mayor and six other men of seven counts of rape with homicide, sentencing them to seven terms of reclusion perpetua and ordering them to pay millions in damages to the families of the victims. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction in 1999.

"And so we come to hear another tale of woe, of an infamous public figure and his minions indicted for having raped and killed a young lady and a budding lad, of these victims who had led short obscure lives that earned an equally ignominous end, and of a criminal enterprise so despicable only the unthinking beasts can orchestrate," the Court ruled.

"It was, indeed, a plot seemingly hatched in hell. And let it not be said that the full protection of the law had been deprived appellants. Even a beast cannot deny this."

What the law says about good conduct time allowances

But now, 24 years into his sentence, the convicted mayor may be getting out of the New Bilibid Prison soon. And not just him — officials say thousands of inmates, even drug convicts, may be freed in the coming months.

The reason: reductions to their sentence because of good conduct behind bars.

Good conduct time allowances (GCTAs) have basis in law: Republic Act No. 10592, a 2013 law, amended a number of provisions of the Revised Penal Code, including Article 97, that took effect in 1932 and details the number of days that could be taken off a prisoner's sentence for good behavior.

But GCTAs have been in the law for more than a century. Enacted in 1906, Act No. 1533 provided for the "diminution of sentences imposed upon convicted prisoners in consideration of good conduct and diligence," according to the Supreme Court. 

Now, RA 10592 provides a 20-day deduction for each month of good behavior during the first two years of imprisonment. The reductions increase further into a sentence. By the 11th year, a month of good behavior can translate into 30 days off the prison term. More days could be deducted for each month of study, teaching, or mentoring service.

GCTAs are granted by the Director of the Bureau of Corrections, the chief of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, and/or the jail warden. The law says allowances, once granted, cannot be revoked.

The law itself, RA 10592, does not define good behavior.

String of violations

The Supreme Court came into the picture when several Bilibid inmates challenged one thing about the implementing rules and regulations of RA 10592: its prospective application, which means the law only covers cases from the time it was enacted in 2013.

The Free Legal Assistance Group supported the inmates' petition, saying a prospective application unreasonably discriminates those who would have benefited from a retroactive application.

Last June 25, the highest court in the land unanimously sided with the inmates. In a decision penned by Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta, the en banc held that RA 10592 is a penal law and should therefore have a retroactive effect.

Article 22 of the Revised Penal Code provides that penal laws should have retroactive effect "insofar as they favor the persons guilty of a felony, who is not a habitual criminal."

In 2016, a complaint was filed against Sanchez in 2006 for allegedly possessing shabu and marijuana inside his jail cell. Four years later, in July 2010, Sanchez was caught with P1.5 million worth of shabu hidden in a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary inside his cell. Then in a 2015 raid at the national penitentiary, authorities seized from Sanchez a flat-screen TV and airconditioning unit.

It was not immediately clear if this string of supposed violations were taken into consideration when the BOC computed the convicted rapist's GCTAs.

When the Court's Public Information Office announced its June 25 ruling, it said the decision will lead to a "substantial reduction" in inmates' penalties and eventually result in the decongestion of the country's jail system.

The Court ordered authorities to recompute the time allowances of the inmates who sued "and all those who are similarly situated" and to release them if they have fully served their sentence.

Balancing interests

As a consequence of the ruling and the law, around 200 inmates could be released in one day, according to Corrections chief Nicanor Faeldon.

"The law does not make any distinction and applies uniformly to all persons deprived of liberty who have conducted themselves well, usefully and productively," Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said.

Human rights lawyer Edre Olalia, president of the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers, a group that has represented political prisoners and victims of human rights violations, said the situation was "hard to swallow" but shared a similar view.

"As the current law, jurisprudence and legal principles stand now, unfortunately and most regrettably, they may be released," Olalia said. And it should apply to all, he said, unless the law is amended to create exceptions.

Olalia said he does not want a "mechanical" recomputation of sentence reductions. Instead, he suggested a "comprehensive, reliable, independent, impartial and holistic" process that includes an evaluation into remorse and "what good conduct really means vis-a-vis the nature of the crime."

Guevarra, for his part, stressed that neither his nor the president's approval is required for the release of inmates on the basis of GCTAs.

He acknowledged GCTAs as a "big incentive" for an inmate "to behave properly and be useful during incarceration," and said jail decongestion is a "purely collateral benefit."

Asked about the victims of the convicted criminals, he said: "The consolation lies in the fact that justice has been served, even if the punishment has been abbreviated. The state has to weigh and balance all contending interests."

Guevarra said he has ordered a strict recomputation of GCTAs in all cases involving "heinous crimes." — MDM, GMA News