Solon bats for ‘life sentence without parole’ for heinous crime convicts

Amid the controversy involving the release of heinous crime convicts due to "ambiguities" in the law on good conduct time allowance (GCTA), Cebu Representative Eduardo Gullas on Sunday suggested the creation of a law which would allow trial courts to impose "life sentence without parole" penalties on ruthless criminals.

“In America, they have more than 50,000 convicts currently serving life without parole. They are never getting out of prison. We should have a similar penalty here reserved for the most hardened felons,” Gullas said in a statement.

“The severe punishment is as good as locking up a convict and throwing away the key,” he added.

According to Gullas, the "loopholes" in RA 10592, or the law on GCTA, had allowed Bureau of Corrections officials to "sell" allowances to convicts.

“Clearly, there are violent and dangerous criminals who should be incarcerated for the rest of their natural lives to satisfy the demands of justice and to protect the general public. Thus, the option of life sentence without parole,” he said.

Gullas was a co-author of House Bill 417, which eventually was enacted as RA 10592.

He confirmed Cagayan De Oro City Representative Rufus Rodriguez's earlier statement that it was the Senate which increased the Revised Penal Code's GCTA for convicts during the 15th Congress.

"But there’s really no point in finger-pointing now, because ultimately the GCTA Law was an act of Congress. So the entire Congress has to accept responsibility for any lack of clarity in the law,” he said.

Gullas added that in the 15th Congress, House Bill 417 only proposed that the time spent during “preventive imprisonment” be counted as part of the convict's overall time served.

Preventive imprisonment was defined as the time the accused spent in jail while his or her case was being heard in court or prior to conviction and sentencing in case of non-bailable offenses.

But the Senate then pushed for and incorporated the increase in the GCTA for convicts, Gullas said.

"The House at the time had to go along with the proposal of the Senate in order to get the combined measure approved,” he explained.

Following the reported possible release of convicted rapist-murderer and former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez based on RA 10592, the government suspended the implementation of the law pending review.

President Rodrigo Duterte also ordered heinous crime convicts released by virtue of the GCTA Law to surrender within 15 days or else they would be considered "fugitives" who could be rearrested even without a warrant.

As of Sunday morning, at least 65 heinous crime convicts who had been released by virtue of GCTA Law had surrendered to the Philippine National Police. — Erwin Colcol/DVM, GMA News