EDITORIAL - Rush to free prisoners

As the secretary of justice pointed out, persons convicted of heinous crimes cannot avail themselves of the retroactive benefits of Republic Act 10592, which allows the early release of prisoners who accumulate enough good conduct time allowance or GCTA.

The clarification was issued after a public uproar erupted over the looming release of Antonio Sanchez, the former mayor of Calauan town in Laguna who is serving seven life terms simultaneously for the rape and murder of University of the Philippines-Los Baños student Mary Eileen Sarmenta and the killing of her fellow UPLB student Allan Gomez. Sanchez is serving a separate sentence for the killing of a father and his son. He was also slapped drug-related charges while serving his sentence, making him ineligible for the GCTA law.

Sanchez’s relatives said his release papers had already been signed. Now it turns out that he wasn’t the only convict allowed to benefit from the retroactive application of RA 10592 or the GCTA law, which the Supreme Court allowed in a ruling handed down in June.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, whose legislative committee is set to conduct an inquiry into Sanchez’s now aborted release, disclosed that four Chinese nationals convicted of drug trafficking, which is a heinous offense, have already been released since the Supreme Court ruling came out.

The Bureau of Immigration has since confirmed that the four are already in BI custody and awaiting deportation: Chan Chit Yue, Kin San Ho, Ching Che and Wu Hing Sum. Bureau of Corrections officials said that since 2014, the bureau has released 1,914 prisoners convicted of heinous offenses – or crimes that used to warrant the death penalty – on the basis of GCTA. BuCor officials said they could not disclose the names of those freed.

Approximately 11,000 prisoners are reportedly expected to benefit from the retroactive application of RA 10592. Lacson said among those who have been released are some of the rapist-killers of sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong, who were sentenced to death in 2004. Capital punishment, however, was abolished before the sentence was carried out.

The processing of GCTA is now on hold and Palace officials have said President Duterte wants heinous crime convicts who have benefited from the retroactive application of RA 10592 back in prison. Since the law excludes heinous crime offenders, why were the drug dealers freed, and why are Sanchez’s relatives insisting that his release order had been signed? The nation must know the truth.