Excessive number of GCTA surrenderees congest NBP hall

The social hall of the New Bilibid Prison was cramped with people as the number of surrenderees exceeded the 1,914 heinous crime convicts that were freed due to the Good Conduct Time Allowance.

In a Friday report by Jun Veneracion on GMA 7 news program 24 Oras, a prison guard explained that there were so many surrendering ex-convicts that the Bilibid social hall now resembled a city jail.

The congestion had gotten so bad that several surenderees had to be moved to the BuCoR training hall.

As of Tuesday, the total number of surrenderees had reached 2,009, with 1,773 in the custody of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCoR) and 236 with the Philippine National Police.

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the surrender of all heinous crime convicts mistakenly released via the GCTA law before September 19, warning that if they did not, they would be treated as fugitives of the law.

Out of fear of being arrested, ex-convicts thought it safer to surrender, even though they were non-heinous crime convicts. 

"Sana po makita ni presidente ang kalagayan po namin dito dahil dumaan po kami sa legal na proseso na lumaya," a surrenderee said.

Some surrenderees were upset and thought it unfair that they had to surrender just for their peace of mind.

"Lahat po ng lumaya na nandito lumaya ng maayos, dumaan sa pinto hindi tumakas, hindi nag under the bakod. Hindi kami nag kung ano. Lahat kami, patas kami, dumaan kami sa hirap," the wife of a surrenderee said. — Joahna Lei Casilao/DVM, GMA News