As the deadline on President Duterte’s 15-day grace period expired last week, the Justice secretary made a surprising appeal to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), asking it to suspend the arrest of convicts who had not yet surrendered.
The fact that this was framed as a request did little to hide the confusion that prevails over the misapplication of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) Law at the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), which falls under the Justice Department’s supervision.
Over the last few weeks, we have witnessed how officials at the bureau misapplied the law to free on good behavior almost 2,000 felons convicted of heinous crimes—rape and murder, to name a few.
An outraged President immediately ordered their rearrest, giving them 15 days to surrender before they would be treated as fugitives from the law.
The President, known for his tough talk, said after the 15 days, the convicts would be wanted dead or alive, preferably dead to save on the cost of clothing and feeding them in prison.
The threat has worked well—one might say, even too well. On Friday, the Justice Department reported that 2,009 convicts surrendered, even though there were only 1,914 of them on the BuCor list.
In the meantime, other disturbing allegations emerged from Senate hearings on the GCTA mess, including accusations that corrupt prison officials sold GCTA credits and hospital passes that allowed inmates at the national penitentiary to momentarily exchange the rigors of prison life for the comparative luxury of a hospital stay.
The President fired the BuCor chief, Nicanor Faeldon, and ordered a major revamp at the bureau—but with weak supervision, it may only be a matter of time before the same corrupt practices reemerge.
And what are we to make of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra’s request to the police, through the DILG, to hold off on arrests the President himself ordered?
Guevarra said Friday that of the 1,914 heinous crime convicts freed through the GCTA Law, 1,717 had already turned themselves in as of 11 p.m. Sept.19. The remaining convicts, Guevarra said, were in a “gray area” because they did not know if they were really convicted for heinous crimes.
“We want to make sure that those remaining are actually people that need to be arrested,” the Justice secretary said.
“Pending that verification, considering the number of those who have surrendered almost matched the original number 1,900 plus, then we deem it safe and prudent not to pursue any coercive law enforcement action at this time because we may unduly and unnecessarily endanger the life of not only the [prisoners], but even the law enforcement agents,” he added.
As if things were not confusing enough, a spokesperson for the Justice Department acknowledged that only the President who issued the arrest order may put it on hold, making the secretary’s request to the DILG seem foolish at best.
Amid all this chaos, it seems germane to ask: Who really is in charge?
