Heinous crime convicts included in GCTA by 'mistake' –DOJ

Over 10,000 heinous crime convicts have been released due to "someone's mistake" especially in the crafting of the Good  Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) Law's implementing rules and regulations (IRR), a Department of Justice official said Saturday.

Asked why convicts of such high crimes have benefited from the law, DOJ Undersecretary Markk Perete said in an interview on Dobol B sa News TV that the GCTA's IRR does not follow Republic Act 10592.

This is what make the problem tricky, "kasi supposedly yung IRR should really follow the law. But someone committed a mistake in the crafting the IRR and on the basis of that mistake napaboran yoong prisoners (heinous crime convicts).

Add to this, the high court's decision in 2013 making the law retroactive.

According to Perete, the law excludes heinous crime convicts from earning GCTAs and the problem cropped up due to the flawed IRR. He did not disclose which particular parts of the IRR contained mistakes or who committed these mistakes.

Due to the computation of time allowance credits based on the IRR, 1,914 heinous crime convicts have been released.

Moreover, he said the most that the DOJ can do now is to review their cases.

"Yung review ng kanilang kaso, we can do. Now, puwede ba silang basta-basta na lamang pabalikin sa loob on the theory na hindi pa nila na-fully served ang kanilang sentence because they are not deserving sa allowances. That is a bit tricky kasi yung releases nila ay based on the current IRR, which was crafted in 2013."

DOJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra, Perete said, has called for a joint committee meeting to review not only the IRR  but also on what to do with those who are already released.

If the department decides to recall those who have been released, it will be hurdling a logistical problem, Perete pointed out. —LBG, GMA News