De Lima to Ombudsman: Ask Justice Dep’t about IRR for GCTA law, not me

Senator Leila De Lima on Tuesday urged the Office of the Ombudsman to quiz Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra in connection with the implementing rules and regulations of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law instead of her, saying that it is outside her mandate to comment on the matter.

De Lima was responding to Ombudsman Samuel Martires’ September 6 letter asking her and former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II to explain why those convicted of heinous crimes were not excluded from benefiting from the GCTA law.

“[I] would like to clarify that I am no longer the Secretary of Justice. I am now a Senator of the Republic. I cannot in my official capacity as a Senator reply to a query that exclusively pertains to official business of the Department of Justice whose present Secretary is Menardo Guevarra,” De Lima said in her three-page letter received by the Office of the Ombudsman on September 17.

“Whatever query you may have regarding the IRR, therefore, may be properly and officially answered by the DOJ and the DILG, being the institutions and agencies responsible for the implementation of said IRR,” De Lima, who was the Justice Secretary when the GCTA was enacted into law in 2014, added.

Likewise, De Lima said that the IRR was an institutional output of the Justice department and the Department of Interior and Local Government during the Aquino administration—offices that are now beyond her reach as a senator.

“It is not clear in your letter whether you are requiring me to do so in my personal capacity or in my capacity as Senator. Either way, I find no relevance in either capacities or as former Secretary of Justice to be able to officially annotate on the language of the IRR beyond what it provides in its provisions,” De Lima argued.

De Lima has been in detention in Camp Crame since February 2017 on drug charges.

Nevertheless, De Lima maintained that there is nothing wrong with the GCTA law’s IRR.

“I affirm [the IRR’s] regularity, correctness, and consistency with the law,” she said.

In response, Guevarra said the DOJ will not engage in a blame game.

“We at the DOJ won’t dwell on things that had come to pass, much less waste our time on an unproductive blame game,” he told reporters.

The DOJ and the DILG have just revised the IRR of Republic Act No. 10592, the law increasing GCTAs and other time allowances for prisoners, to exclude recidivists, habitual delinquents, escapees, and those charged with heinous crimes from earning the benefits.

“The revised IRR reflects our best interpretation of RA 10592 as it was actually crafted, finalized, and signed. The current DOJ has done its part. Let Congress do its own,” Guevarra said.

The GCTA law has been under intense scrutiny after it was reported that convicted rapist and killer, former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez, is expected to be freed from jail due to the GCTA law.

Sanchez is convicted of seven counts of rape and seven counts of homicide over the rape and killing of Eileen Sarmenta and death of Allan Gomez, both UP Los Baños students, in 1993. — BM/RSJ, GMA News