Palace: Heinous crime convicts freed on good behavior should be sent back to jail

Convicts of heinous crimes who were released on the basis of good conduct-based reductions to their prison terms should be brought back to jail, Malacañang said Friday.

“Obviously, dapat makabalik sila sa kulungan until they serve the full term of their service,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo told reporters in Beijing.

The inmates were released on the basis of Republic Act 10592, a 2013 law that increased good conduct time allowances (GCTA) or days that may be deducted from prison terms of qualified prisoners who show good behavior.

Data from the Bureau of Corrections showed that of the 22,049 persons deprived of liberty (PDL) released from 2014 to 2019 due to GCTA, 1,914 had been convicted of heinous crimes such as murder and rape.

Of those convicted of heinous crimes, 797 were sentenced for murder, 758 for rape, 274 for robbery with violence or intimidation, 48 for drug-related offenses, 29 for parricide, five for kidnapping with illegal detention, and three for destructive arson.

But Panelo said the law excludes recidivists, habitual delinquents, escapees and persons charged with heinous crimes from its coverage.

“That cannot be done because the law is very clear,” said Panelo, who is also President Rodrigo Duterte’s chief legal counsel.

When told that the law provides that GCTAs, once granted, cannot be revoked, Panelo said, “When you say it cannot be revoked it assumes that the grantee(s) are qualified. If they are not qualified how can you apply that provision.”

In explaining the release of the 1,914 inmates, Frederic Santos, chief of the BuCor's legal office, said on Thursday that the bureau previously interpreted the law as covering all convicted prisoners.

Calls to review GCTA guidelines or even amend the law were made amid the public outcry over news of the possible early release of Antonio Sanchez, a former Laguna mayor sentenced to seven prison terms of up to 40 years each for the 1993 Sarmenta-Gomez rape-slay case.

The Senate will begin its inquiry on the controversial early release of inmates for good behavior on September 2. — MDM, GMA News