malaysiangManila: The Bureau of Corrections has formed a technical working group (TWG) to implement the Supreme Court (SC) ruling to include persons convicted of heinous crimes in the coverage of Republic Act (RA) 10592, or the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law.
In a statement, BuCor Director General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. said the TWG will submit the draft implementing rules and regulations (IRR) to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for guidance.
‘We have to determine how to recompute the time allowance due the persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), whether the computation will be based on the date of their detention or based on the date they are transferred tp BuCor,’ Catapang said.
He said they have to be ‘very careful’ and make sure that what happened in the past, where convicts were released due to alleged tampering with their GCTA in exchange for money, will not happen again.
On April 3, the SC en banc ruled that the DOJ, in enacting its 2019 IRR, exceeded its power of subordinate legislation when it exclu
ded persons convicted of heinous crimes from the benefits of the GCTA law.
The Court ruled that Article 97 of the Revised Penal Code. as amended by RA 10592, is clear that any convicted prisoner is entitled to GCTA as long as the prisoner is in a penal institution, rehabilitation or detention center, or any other local jail.
The motion for reconsideration was turned down by the high court on Aug. 20.
According to BuCor, there are 27,311 convicted of heinous crimes in various correction facilities nationwide who will benefit from the SC decision if they exhibit good conduct and served more than half of their sentences.
Of the total, 9,168 will be eligible for release if the computation is based on date of detention, or 5,039 if the computation is based on the date they were received in BuCor facilities.
The BuCor said priority will be given to the sickly, terminally ill and those 70 years old and above.
Source: Philippines News Agency
