A party-list lawmaker on Tuesday welcomed a Supreme Court ruling allowing bail for convicted old and sickly persons.
“The recent Supreme Court ruling should now be made a new additional and humanitarian ground applicable for the release of deserving prisoners,” Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said.
“In fact, this should set as a precedent for the release especially for those not yet convicted but are still detained due to trumped up charges and whose cases are still being tried in court,” he added.
Zarate recalled that Camilo Sabio, the former chief of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), was recently allowed by the Supreme Court to be provisionally released, citing humanitarian reasons.
Sabio was found guilty by the Sandiganbayan of graft in 2019 and was arrested in 2020. He was sentenced to 6 to 10 years of imprisonment and perpetual disqualification from holding public office.
“This ruling should immediately be made applicable to all prisoners under similar situation so as to prevent a repeat of what happened to farmer Antonio Molina, a sick and elderly political prisoner who died of cancer inside a Palawan prison last November,” Zarate stressed.
“While the convicted Marcoses continue to flaunt their ‘untouchability,’ an elderly, sickly, poor farmer died because of trumped-up charges and the skewed justice system,” he added.
Zarate noted the Molina, 66, was “unjustly arrested and jailed in 2019. Despite his advanced age and serious sickness, a local court in Palawan unjustly denied his plea for release on bail or recognizance, until his death in jail.”
“The SC Sabio ruling should stop the double standard in the release of prisoners,” said the Davao-based solon.
Zarate’s Bayan Muna authored House Bill 10535 or An Act Providing for the Inclusion of Fragile Health and/or Advanced Age as Grounds for the Release on Recognizance of an Accused, amending for the purpose Republic Act 10389 or the ‘Recognizance Act of 2021.
