Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who is the co-author of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law or Republic Act 10592, insist that only an arrest warrant issued by a judge of the court where the convicted person was sentenced and is now free due to the GCTA could force the convict to return to jail.
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
Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo recalled that the smuggling of Mighty Cigarettes in 2017 “would have not been exposed if Mr. Faeldon kept quiet.”
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.