Freed heinous crime convict struggles outside prison walls, willing to turn himself in

Sitting by his lonesome, David Nava, 72, stares blankly while puffing a cigarette at a store just a few hundred meters from the towering walls of the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

It has become his morning routine.

A pouch bag, containing a little over P100 and a small plastic bag, sits on the table beside him. Inside the plastic bag is his most precious possession—a piece of paper which served as his ticket to freedom.

Nava had been an inmate at Bilibid for more than two decades after he was  convicted of murder until he got his release order on August 21, 2019 by virtue of the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law (GCTA) which shortened his sentence of life imprisonment.

He walked out of prison that same day.

Nava recalls the moment he was summoned to report to an office inside the prison compound, not knowing that it would be the end of his life behind bars.

“Ay Sobra maka iyak pa ako sir sa sa turnover sir,” Nava says while holding up his Certificate of Discharge from Prison. 

Upon his release, Nava says, he received P1,037 from the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) as financial assistance.

“Eksakto lang pamasahe ko po, sir, eh. Pero pinambili ko ng pagkain ko,” says Nava. What’s left is more than P100 in small bills.

He may be a free man, but life hasn’t changed much for Nava.

Having not enough money to spend for his travel back to his home province of Isabela, he chose to stay on the premises of the national penitentiary, selling vegetables for a living.

“Makaipon din po ako. Araw araw po ako nagtitinda ng talong, okra,” Nava says.

Nava’s family in Isabela has no idea that he had been released from prison. He lost contact with his six children. No phone calls, no letters. While his wife remarried, Nava says.

“2010 dumalaw yung dalawang babae (anak) po,” Nava recalls. That was the last visit that he got from family members.

He may appear to have been forgotten, but Nava still excitedly toys with the idea of having a surprise family reunion.

“Masayang masaya po ako ah. Makikita ko mga pamilya ko. Kaso hindi muna ako umuwi,” he says.

But the freedom he now enjoys might be short-lived following President Duterte’s order demanding for the surrender of all released heinous crime convicts that illegally benefited from the GCTA Law.

Since 2013, 1,915 inmates who heinous crime prisoners have been set free.

Some legal luminaries are of the belief that GCTA Law excludes those that were found guilty of committing heinous offenses.

Some may find it hard to believe, but for Nava, under the present circumstances walking back to prison seems to be a better option than returning to his family in the province.

“Kahit umuwi ako eh di wanted, lalong wanted, sir,” Nava tells this reporter.

According to Nava he is just waiting for an advice from his former jail officer before yielding to BuCor officials.

“Wala akong magawa kung pabalikin. Magtago ako? Pagka nabaril ka pa dyan. Sa loob buhay ako walang kalaban,” he says. — BAP, GMA News