Can BuCor Be Trusted On Convicts’ Release?

As the Department of Justice suspended implementation of the law that shortens the prison term of convicted criminals based on good conduct time allowance (GCTA), the spotlight is now on the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) that is tasked to evaluate prisoners’ behavior so they could qualify for early release.

“I could not help but suspect that there are shenanigans happening inside the BuCor in favor of the rich and powerful inmates, including former Calauan mayor Antonio Sanchez,” Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said in a statement.

According to Drilon, the BuCor could not have announced that Sanchez has already served 49 years in prison, including GCTA, if the former mayor’s violations were properly listed.

Drilon, who successfully prosecuted Sanchez and his cohorts in 1995 as then justice secretary, expressed support for the DOJ’s move to suspend the processing of GCTA applications based on Republic Act 10592, saying “there is negligence, if not corruption,” at the BuCor.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson shared the suspicion of corruption in the BuCor.

“Sanchez is just a representation of everything that is bad and wrong with our penitentiary system. His luxurious, high living standard while serving time easily reminds us of the kubol bungalows of the drug lord convicts which authorities said they already dismantled,” Lacson said.

Not just BuCor

Quezon City Rep. Precious Hipolito-Castelo proposed the creation of an independent board that will review the conduct of inmates inside the New Bilibid Prison.

According to Castelo, the board should be composed of people from the Department of Justice, Department of Social Welfare and Development, academe, the church and even families of the victims and relatives of the prisoners.

Senators Francis Pangilinan and Nancy Binay have also pointed out that the GCTA assessment is not simply a mathematical computation.

“We were among those who signed the Senate bill that became (RA) 10592, so we know that its intent is not to determine the fate of inmates solely on mathematical computation,” Pangilinan said.

“Numbers such as days of the month should have value as well as context in assessing good conduct. One cannot act like a saint for 20 days in a month, just because it is a requirement of law, and be like Lucifer for the rest of the month. There should be an objective assessment of how the incarceration has contributed to the reformation and rehabilitation of a person,” Pangilinan noted.

Binay, for her part, stressed that a “simple math mistake can directly perpetuate wholesale injustice” and “an error can be a criminal’s ticket to freedom.”

Review the law

Senators are pushing for amendments to RA 10592 to remove any ambiguities that may be exploited by disqualified and unrepentant convicts in collusion with unscrupulous prison officials.

They also backed the move of the DOJ to suspend the processing of the release of prisoners who are eligible for early release under the GCTA law.

Based on RA 10592 passed by Congress in 2013, prison sentences can be reduced by as much as 19 years based on a formula that credits good behavior with corresponding number of days to be deducted from a convict’s term.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he will file a resolution this week seeking a review of the law.

Sanchez, a former mayor of Calauan, Laguna, was sentenced to seven life terms, served simultaneously for a maximum of 40 years, for the rape-slay of Mary Eileen Sarmenta and the murder of her friend Allan Gomez in 1993.

Both were students of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) in Laguna.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, a UPLB alumnus, vowed to push for amendments to make it clear that convicts of heinous crimes like murder, drug trafficking, kidnap-for-ransom and “other highly-dangerous criminals cannot avail of the program, period.”

“These individuals are too dangerous-to release back in the streets, and imagine the families and individuals who testified against them will be in extreme danger,” Zubiri told reporters.

“All a dangerous criminal has to do is to pretend to be very nice for a decade and then applies for the program and he is released from his predicament only to get back at those who filed and testified against him,” he said.

He disclosed that similar cases have happened in other countries like the United States where criminals released on good behavior had become recidivist and preyed on other victims after relocating.

Drilon said the temporary suspension of the law’s implementation may affect prisoners who are really entitled for early release “but with the people, including myself, worrying about the release of prisoners like Sanchez, the temporary suspension, pending review of the guidelines, is a welcome development.”

He said authorities or even the Senate must look into the records or what is called the prisoners’ karpeta, particularly that of Sanchez, and to find out if his violations were properly recorded.

“How much does it cost for Sanchez’s karpeta, or that of any powerful and rich inmates, to be cleared of violations?” Drilon asked.

He said even without the DOJ saying that inmates who committed heinous crimes are excluded from coverage of GCTA, Sanchez should not be released because of the misconduct he committed while in prison. — With Delon Porcalla