Lawmakers: Convicts of heinous crimes should be disqualified for early release based on good behavior

Those convicted of heinous crimes should not be allowed to avail of early release from prison on account of good behavior, several members of the House of Representatives said Thursday.

Party-list representatives Eric Yap of  Anti-Crime and Terrorism Community Involvement and Support and Claudine Bautista of Dumper PTDA made the call in connection with the possible release of former Calauan, Laguna mayor and convicted rapist/murderer Antonio Sanchez on the account of good behavior.

The Pasig Regional Trial Court convicted Sanchez of seven counts of rape and seven counts of murder for Eileen Sarmenta's death, as well as murder for the killing of Sarmenta's friend, Allan Gomez, in 1995. Sarmenta and Gomez were students of University of the Philippines Los Baños.

The former town mayor was sentenced to seven terms of reclusion perpetua (30 to 40 years), a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court in 1999. 

“Dapat piliin rin ho ang krimen eh kasali rito. Nang-rape siya, pinag-pasapasahan nila ‘yung biktima, tapos puwede mag-avail nito? Hindi ho katanggap-tanggap ito,” Yap said in a news conference.

“At sino ho ba ang nagsabi na mayroong good conduct sa kulungan si Mayor Sanchez? Bakit siya nakapasa [sa criteria]?” Yap asked.

Clara Sarmenta, mother of Eileen, earlier said that Sanchez cannot be released on good behavior considering that he has not even paid the P11 million worth of damages imposed on him as a result of his conviction. She also noted the instances when contraband, including illegal drugs, were found in Sanchez's cell in the national penitentiary.

Sanchez is just one of thousands of inmates eligible for the recomputation of good conduct time allowances (GCTA) on the basis of Republic Act No. 10592 and a Supreme Court ruling that made the effectivity of the law retroactive.

Given this situation, Bautista warned that allowing convicts who committed heinous crimes to be released early on the account of good behavior sets a dangerous precedent since other inmates who committed crimes as worse as Sanchez can also be freed on supposed good behavior.

“Heinous crime ang rape. Bakit natin isasali sa pag-aaply ng early release on good conduct ang rapist? We also need to consider na ang mararamdaman ng biktima at ng kanilang mga pamilya,” Bautista pointed out.

House Committee on Justice Vice Chairman Alfredo Garbin of Ako-Bicol party-list shared Bautista’s sentiments, saying that even inmates convicted of drug trafficking could also use the law on early release based on good behavior as a way to get away with crimes.

“I will file a resolution to investigate and to make sure that RA 10592 on the conditional expanded GCTA is properly implemented and that only those inmates who showed good behavior can avail of the same. Baka naman kasi yong mga convicted drug lords whose serving sentence and testified during the 17th congress in the Committee on Justice that they run a drug operation in collusion with the BOC personnel ay mag benefit pa dito,” Garbin said in a separate statement.

“The DOJ can take judicial notice of their testimony during our drug hearing in the Justice committee. Certainly, that admission go against good behavior,” he added.

The inmates who testified in the House Justice panel in the 17th Congress were those who testified against Senator Leila de Lima, accusing the Senator of pocketing money from illegal drug trade in the national penitentiary during her tenure as Justice Chief during the Aquino administration.

De Lima has denied these charges, but she was indicted on two drug charges anyway and has been in jail since February 2017. —KBK, GMA News