Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Thursday said that there is nothing wrong with the 2019 amendment in implementing rules and regulations to exclude persons convicted of heinous crimes from the coverage of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law.
Under Republic Act 10592, or the GCTA law, GCTA credits shorten the jail term of a convicted person.
“The DOJ (Department of Justice) crafted the revised implementing rules and regulations of the GCTA law in accordance not only with the letter but more so with the spirit of the law,” Guevarra said, in a text message to reporters.
The issue on GCTA surfaced anew after Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Judge Gener M. Gito ordered the release of Juanito T. Itaas, who was convicted in 1991 for the 1989 murder of the United States Army Col. James Rowe and frustrated murder of Rowe’s driver Joaquin Binuya.
In 2000, the Supreme Court sustained Itaas’ conviction.
The IRR was revised in 2019 as a result of public outrage on the announced release under GCTA credits of the late former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio L. Sanchez who was then serving his jail term for murder and rape.
In Itaas’ case, a ruled that Section 2, Rule IV of the 2019 amended IRR as “invalid for being ultra vires” (beyond one’s authority) because it “goes beyond what the law provides” and “exceeds the law that it seeks to implement.”
The IRR cited that those who are not entitled to any GCTA are recidivists, habitual delinquents, escapees, and persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) convicted of heinous crimes.
The judge stressed that the provision of the IRR is based on Section 1 of RA 10592 which amended Article 29 of the Revised Penal Code that provides that credit for “preventive imprisonment will be deducted for the penalty of reclusion perpetua” but “recidivists, habitual delinquents, escapees and persons charged with heinous crimes are excluded from the coverage of this Act.”
“It is, however, the view of the Court that the phrase ‘provided, finally, that recidivists, habitual delinquents, escapees and persons charged with heinous crimes are excluded from the coverage of this Act,’ cannot be used as justification for the expansion of the exceptions from the benefits provided by R.A. 10592. This phrase properly pertains only to those accused covered by Article 29 of the RPC – those who are undergoing preventive imprisonment,” the judge ruled.
With his ruling, the judge ordered the release of Itaas from the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.
Guevarra said the Office of the Solicitor General has filed a motion for reconsideration before the RTC.
“The OSG is ready to challenge the trial court’s ruling all the way up, and the Supreme Court has the final say on any and all issues of constitutionality,” he pointed out.