The inclusion of Janet Lim Napoles and Rolito Go in the roster of prisoners that were supposed to be released under the Good Conduct Time Allowance was a “stupid mistake” that uncovered the recklessness of the Bureau of Corrections, Senator Richard Gordon said Thursday.
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Gordon’s remarks came after his committees ordered the detention of BuCor documents and records section chief Ramoncito Roque, New Bilibid Prison Hospital medical officer Ursicio Cenas and BuCor legal division chief Frederick Anthony Santos for contempt due to false testimony given in the hearings.
Gordon said it did not look like there was a deliberate attempt to free Napoles, who is on trial for graft and plunder in the multi-billion-peso pork barrel scam.
“It’s a stupid mistake. It’s as stupid as putting former Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez out of jail,” Gordon said, referring to the near release of the convicted rapist and murderer that sparked public outrage.
“Are you going to let Napoles out when we already have this chaos because of Sanchez?” Gordon said.
Amid the public outcry, President Rodrigo Duterte stopped the release of Sanchez and sacked BuCor Director Nicanor Faeldon.
Napoles is detained at the Women’s Correctional in Mandaluyong City while her trial is ongoing at the Sandiganbayan.
The list indicated that Napoles was set for release under the good conduct law—but her listed conviction was rape.
Gordon chided BuCor officials for the mistake, saying there was nothing wrong with freeing deserving inmates, but they were releasing prisoners based on the wrong information.
Interviewed after the hearing, Gordon acknowledge that there had been an attempt in the past to free Napolies, but this was aborted when the news was leaked, angering the public. He offered no other details, however.
Gordon pointed out there were mistakes in 197 names in the BuCor list.
“The list you submitted cite the wrong cases, and there are double entries,” addressing the BuCor officials in Filipino. “Almost 10 percent of the records are wrong.”
Aside from Napoles and Go, there were similar names in the list. Also, some of the beneficiaries listed were already out of prison.
“It was really chaotic, so I asked the Department of Justice for their procedure,” Gordon said.
Confronted by Gordon, Roque admitted the list was done in haste for a scheduled press conference in Palawan. Because of this, they did not check the list properly, he said.
Gordon blurted out: “What has that got to do with the press conference? You have the list. You should have taken care of the list.”
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During Thursday’s hearing, BuCor Senior Inspector Mabel Bansil testified that the early release of inmates through the GCTA Law was offered first to high-profile inmates of New Bilibid Prison.
Bansil was one of the 30 BuCor officials ordered suspended for six months without pay by the Office of the Ombudsman due to the release of heinous crime convicts under the GCTA Law.
The Justice department, meanwhile, said Napoles, who has been convicted of plunder for being the mastermind in the P10-billion pork barrel scam, remains in detained at the Correctional Institute for Women.
Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete made the clarification after it was reported that a certain “Janet Lim-Napoles,” who was convicted for rape, was among those released on account of good conduct time allowance law. The inmate was reportedly released in November 2018.
“Janet Lim-Napoles has not been released. She remains at the Correctional Institution for Women,” Perete said, in a text message to reporters.
Nonetheless, Perete disclosed that they already asked the Bureau of Corrections to explain why there was a certain “Janet Lim Napoles” who was freed last year by virtue of the GCTA Law.
More than 280 of the 1,914 heinous crime convicts freed under the GCTA Law have surrendered, records from the Philippine National Police show.
Of those, 47 have already been turned over to BuCor for processing, the police added.
The surrenderers included 93 convicted of murder, 93 convicted of rape, 26 convicted of robbery with homicide, and 11 convicted for dangerous drugs.
In related developments:
• Opposition Senator Leila De Lima shot back at the Duterte administration for blaming her and former Interior secretary Manuel Roxas II for drafting the implementing rules and regulations of the GCTA Law, saying it was prison officials that freed the heinous crimes convicts.
• The Palace said President Rodrigo Duterte was looking for an honest and competent person to replace Faeldon at BuCor. “The President has only two qualifications: honesty and competence,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said at a news conference. He said he knew nothing about Senator Christopher Go’s suggestion that the next BuCor chief be “a killer.” With MJ Blancaflor
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