The problem of overcrowded jails in the country has been there for years. The New Bilibid Prisons was built in the 1940s when the country’s population was less than 20 million. The country now has more than 105 million Filipinos. By Manny Mogato
President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday fired Bureau of Corrections chief Nicanor Faeldon amid controversy over the granting of good conduct time allowances to allow the early release of prison inmates. On Friday, Duterte cleared Faeldon of wrongdoing, calling the former military officer an “upright man.”
A total of 1,914 prisoners convicted of heinous crimes have been granted early release since 2014 after the amendment of the GCTA law. The BuCor release the data amid uproar over the possible release of former mayor Antonio Sanchez, who was convicted in the 1993 killings of students Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez.
Duterte told inmates who benefited from the “good conduct time allowance” law: “If I were you mag-surrender na kayo to the nearest police or military detachment wherever you are now, because I do not need to have a warrant. I will just order them and I take full responsibility for this. And all consequences connected with this decision will be mine and mine alone.”
’Balat-sibuyas’ (onion-skinned) is what we Filipinos call officials who are incapable of thinking beyond their imagined hurt and fail to see that the reports are not all about them – NUJP