The Office of the Ombudsman on Thursday ordered an “exhaustive” investigation of officials from the Bureau of Corrections involved in the release of prisoners under Republic Act No. 10592 or Good Conduct Time Allowance Law.
Investigators have already obtained raw data and pertinent documents from the BuCor, the Department of Justice, the Senate and other relevant agencies, said Ombudsman Samuel Martires.
“Since the Ombudsman has assumed jurisdiction over this case, no other agency is allowed to conduct a parallel investigation unless so authorized by the Ombudsman pursuant to law,” said Ombudsman Samuel Martires.
“In order to avoid any possible conflicting findings, agencies such as the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, which announced its intent to also investigate the matter, should defer to the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman,” he added.
Under the law, the Ombudsman has primary jurisdiction over cases involving government corruption, and it may take over, at any stage, from any agency of government, the investigation of such cases.
At least 1,914 prisoners convicted of heinous crimes have been granted early release since 2014 after the amendment of the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law.
This statistic—and the near release of convicted rapist and murderer Antonio Sanchez—sparked a public uproar over the way the early release program is run.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo, who also came under fire for meeting with the Sanchez family, said Senator Ronald dela Rosa should have looked into the early releases when he was BuCor chief.
Dela Rosa, who as PNP chief led the government’s bloody war on drugs, signed 120 release orders as BuCor chief from April to October 2018, including that of a prisoner who was convicted of illegal drugs.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said he was sure that Dela Rosa would be ready to submit himself to an investigation.
Panelo said the investigation of the GCTA Law must also cover the predecessors of BuCor chief Nicanor Faeldon, who the President fired Wednesday night.
Data from BuCor showed that 22,049 inmates have been released from 2014 to 2019 due to expanded GCTA Law, including 1,914 heinous crime convicts.
Republic Act 10592 came under fire after it was revealed that among its supposed beneficiaries was convicted rapist and murderer Antonio Sanchez, a former mayor.
The public outrage prompted the government to suspend the implementation of the law.
As a response to public backlash, Duterte ordered heinous crime convicts who were released under GCTA Law to surrender.
In a budget hearing Thursday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the prisoner releases under the GCTA Law began with then Justice secretary and now Senator Leila de Lima.
“There was a misapplication of the law and the rules. Back then, there was no distinction between those inmates who have been convicted of heinous crimes or not,” Guevarra told lawmakers.
“And it was exacerbated by the Supreme Court decision that made it [release of inmates] retroactive.”
The prisoner releases began in 2014, after then Interior secretary Manuel Roxas II and De Lima drafted the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the law, Guevarra said.
Later on, then Justice secretary and now Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Caguioa said prisoners serving life terms would need prior approval from his office.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, meanwhile, said charges should be filed against Faeldon for his incompetence and for lying to avoid accountability over the botched early release of Sanchez.
“Faedon was caught lying through his teeth. He tried to deceive the Senate and the public. He lied over and over again to evade accountability,” Drilon said.
“His name has become synonymous with incompetence. His actions clearly exhibited gross inexcusable negligence and willful misconduct, if not corruption,” Drilon added.
He said he fully supported the President’s decision to fire Faeldon.
Drilon said Faeldon displayed gross ignorance of the law when he allowed the release of heinous crime convicts, including convicts in the Chiong sisters rape-slay, and approved the release of Sanchez, even though the former mayor violated prison rules.
He said Faeldon lied about stopping the early release of Sanchez, when, in fact, he admitted under oath that he signed a memorandum order for Sanchez’s early release.
Drilon also castigated Faeldon for his attempts to wash his hands of the controversy, when it was clear that it was he who ordered the release of Sanchez and a thousand more heinous crime convicts.
Faeldon also could not explain why the violations committed by Sanchez in prison—including concealing millions of pesos worth of shabu in a statue of the Virgin Mary—were not in his prison records.
Drilon urged the committees to look into this, adding that “appropriate charges must be recommended.”
He said given Faeldon’s poor public service record, he should not be given a new post in government.
“Such a shady and dubious character is the reason why the government’s war against corruption in the bureaucracy fails,” he added.
Faeldon headed the Bureau of Customs but was forced to resign at the height of the controversy involving the shipment of billions of pesos worth of shabu. He was reappointed to the Office of Civil Defense before heading the BuCor in 2018.
Blue Ribbon committee chairperson Senator Richard Gordon said they have been calling for Faeldon’s resignation, citing incompetence and abuse of authority.
Other senators commended the President for taking swift action on the controversy.
In the House, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said he supports the President’s anti-corruption drive.
Reps. Eric Go Yap and Niña Taduran of ACT-CIS party-list group also supported the President’s action to fire Faeldon.
“Clearly, someone has to be made accountable in allowing the alleged early release of nearly 1,914 heinous crime convicts,” Yap said.
Taduran said President Duterte displayed “decisive leadership” in ordering the rearrest of the convicts.
“The President’s decision shows that he is on the side of justice and that he is sympathetic to the pleas of the families of victims of heinous crimes,” Taduran added.
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