MANILA, Philippines – President Duterte has approved a recommendation of the Department of Justice granting executive clemency to 127 prisoners.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said the President would release next week the official pardon for the inmates who are mostly sick and elderly.
“The President confirmed the approval of the recommendation for pardon during our Cabinet meeting last Monday,” Aguirre told The STAR in a text message.
He said there is no prominent inmate included in the list of qualified prisoners from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City, Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City and other penal colonies of the Bureau of Corrections.
Aguirre said he is uncertain if the list includes political prisoners whose release have been sought by the National Democratic Front.
Most of the cases involve commutation of sentence while there are 18 inmates recommended for conditional pardon without parole, 14 for conditional pardon with parole and two for absolute pardon.
Aguirre earlier vowed that President Duterte would grant pardon as he promised during last year’s presidential campaign.
He cited Duterte’s promise to free inmates aged at least 80 and those who have spent at least 40 years in jail.
Last November, the President granted pardon to actor Robin Padilla, a supporter of his presidential bid and upon the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP) in August.
Padilla, Robinhood Ferdinand Cariño Padilla in real life, applied for absolute pardon in connection with his conviction for illegal possession of firearms in 1994, wherein he was sentenced to a maximum 21 years in prison.
He served three years at the NBP before he was released in April 1997 after former president Fidel Ramos granted him conditional pardon.