Duterte: Why are we getting flak for GCTA law crafted under De Lima, Roxas watch?

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday wondered aloud why his administration is receiving flak for the implementation of the good conduct-based sentence reductions for prisoners when the rules were crafted by the previous administration.

Duterte said it was then-Justice Secretary and now Senator Leila De Lima and former Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II who promulgated the implementing rules and regulations for the expanded good conduct time allowance (GCTA) law, which became the basis for prison officials to free heinous crime convicts from 2014 to 2019.

“Sila 'yung gumawa ng batas sa panahon nila. 'Yung RR [rules and regulations] kanila. So tanungin natin sila ‘Bakit ginanun ninyo?’ Hindi man amin 'yan,” Duterte said at a news conference in Malacañang on Tuesday night when asked whether De Lima and Roxas should be held accountable for the GCTA mess.

“Now we get the flak. For what? Sabi sana, you should have placed that in a clear and accurate manner so that there will be no room for mistake.”

De Lima and Roxas said on Tuesday that they are not accountable for the corruption of Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officials under the current administration responsible for the early release of convicts of heinous crimes through the 2013 law.

This was in response to the letter of Ombudsman Samuel Martires, whose office is looking into the GCTA controversy, asking them to explain why they failed to exclude those convicted of heinous crimes as beneficiaries under the IRR.

De Lima said she found the development “highly irregular.”

""Is this a set-up for me and Secretary Mar into taking the fall for the Sanchez-Faeldon scandal?" she asked.

Malacañang said the law excludes heinous crime convicts from its coverage, prompting Duterte to order them to surrender in 15 days, or be considered fugitives. He also fired BuCor chief Nicanor Faeldon over the GCTA mess.

Duterte said he took the risk when he ordered the close to 2,000 released heinous crime convicts to surrender to the authorities.

“I took the risk na mag-report sila tutal kung hindi palabasin ko naman sila uli.  Wala mang ano sa akin but risk go ko 'yan. But because there was this fire burning, I have to put it out,” he said.

Police tally showed 230 GCTA-released heinous crime convicts have surrendered to the authorities as of Tuesday. — BM, GMA News