More elderly, sick prisoners eligible for release – PAO

PUBLIC Attorney's Office (PAO) chief Persida Rueda-Acosta said on Monday more elderly and sickly Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs), particularly those convicted of heinous crimes, now have a bigger chance of being released following the recent ruling of the Supreme Court on the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law. Rueda-Acosta and other key PAO officials led by Deputy Chief Ana Lisa Soriano and Deputy Chief Erwin Erfe hailed the Court ruling, saying "it has been the position of PAO for the longest time." Rueda-Acosta and Erfe, who led a legal and medical mission Monday at the National Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City, were referring to a Supreme Court en banc decision that any convicted prisoner is entitled to GCTA as long as he or she is in a penal institution, rehabilitation or detention center, or local jail. The Court said the Department of Justice (DoJ) exceeded its power of subordinate legislation on its 2019 implementing rules and regulations (IRR) when it excluded persons convicted of heinous crimes from the benefits of the GCTA law. It was learned that a motion for consideration was turned down by the Court. PAO-National Capital Region director Revelyn Dacpano told The Manila Times that many of the over 200 detainees that attended the mission had inquired how to avail of GCTA. Erfe said the decision has far-reaching effects not only in prison reform but in social welfare and public health. "The decongestion of prisons will lower prison morbidity and mortality, and the general wellbeing of the detainees would vastly improve," he said. It will also have an effect on the budget of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) since more funds will be earmarked for the rehabilitation and reformation of PDLs and less on food and health care, said Erfe, who is also PAO's Forensics Laboratory Division director. Rueda-Acosta reiterated her happiness with the ruling, noting that the same concern has been either ignored or overlooked by previous administrations. "I commend the Supreme Court for this landmark decision and the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. which has been pursuing prison reforms, the same concerns PAO has been espousing for many years," she said. Many of those who wanted to take advantage of the GCTA benefits were elderly and sickly who have been imprisoned for years. One of them was an elderly inmate who was jailed when he was only 38 years old for allegedly raping a 65-year-old woman. The inmate told a PAO lawyer attending to his query that he did not rape the woman. According to BuCor, there are 27,311 prisoners convicted of heinous crimes who could benefit from the Supreme Court decision if they show good conduct and have served more than half of their term. BuCor said 9,168 inmates would be eligible for release if the computation is based on the date of detention, or 5,039 if the computation is based on the date they entered prison. During the mission, 257 inmates received medical services as well as medicines; 188 got new eyeglasses; and 61 had tooth extraction.