Supreme Court orders gov’t to answer petition vs. new IRR of GCTA law

The Supreme Court has ordered the government to comment on the first legal challenge to the revised rules of the expanded law on good conduct time allowances (GCTA).

Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin confirmed Thursday that the tribunal ordered officials to comment on eight inmates’ petition against several provisions of the revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 10592.

The recently filed petition alleges the government acted with grave abuse of discretion in excluding certain types of prisoners from earning any kind of time allowance.

The petitioners — eight inmates at the New Bilibid Prison — said the disqualification of persons charged with heinous crimes from entitlement to GCTAs and time credits for study, teaching, and loyalty went beyond the law and amounted to executive legislation.

Habitual delinquents, recidivists, and escapees are also disqualified from earning time allowances under RA 10592, according to the revised IRR, which takes effect Friday.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, one of the respondents, earlier said he “eagerly awaited” the filing of such a petition and expressed hope that the SC will affirm his stance on the issue.

Guevarra, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and the chiefs of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology were named respondents to the petition.

Guevarra and Año initiated a review of the IRR of RA 10592 and the BuCor manual on time allowances last month, following reports that the 2013 law retroacted by the SC this year could potentially mean early release for convicted mayor Antonio Sanchez and convicts in other known cases.

The 10-day review of the IRR reached a conclusion formalizing the government position that persons convicted of heinous crimes should be excluded from earning GCTAs. 

The controversy on the near-release of Sanchez prompted the Senate to conduct an inquiry on the matter. The issue also resulted in the ouster of Nicanor Faeldon as BuCor chief. — RSJ, GMA News