THE Philippine National Police (PNP) is activating tracker teams led by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to locate convicts who were released based on good conduct time allowance (GCTA), but were ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte to surrender in 15 days.
The manhunt will be for around 1,700 persons convicted of heinous crimes and released based on GCTA before June 2019, PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde said in a press conference Thursday, September 5, 2019.
Albayalde said he has directed National Capital Region Police Office Director Guillermo Eleazar to secure the list of released persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) from the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).
The CIDG is making parallel efforts to secure from the Department of Justice (DOJ) a list of high- profile PDLs who were released prematurely.
The President ordered Wednesday night, September 4, 2019, the recall of the released PDLs convicted of heinous crimes and demanded the immediate resignation of BuCor chief Nicanor Faeldon following the public uproar over the premature release of heinous crime convicts.
Including the more than 200 PDLs whose release were processed after the Supreme Court ruling in June 2019 on the retroactive effectivity of the GCTA law, a total of 1,914 PDLs convicted of heinous crimes have been released based on GCTA since 2014, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said.
Albayalde said the tracker team from each Police Regional Office will start conducting operations against those who have not surrendered after 15 days.
“They will be treated as fugitives if they choose not to surrender,” said Albayalde.
“As fugitives from justice, these convicts can be subjected to warrantless arrest,” he added.
Release orders void
Albayalde, who earlier said they would need a warrant to arrest a released PDL, said a warrantless arrest would be allowed in this case because the release orders were “void in the first place" because persons convicted of heinous crimes are not covered by the GCTA law, or Republic Act 10592.
He said the release orders were “not binding” as these violated the procedure that requires BuCor to seek prior approval by the Justice Secretary.
“Under the RA 210592, GCTA law, lumalabas naman doon na these people who are convicted because of heinous crime (which) are excluded doon sa GCTA law. So first and foremost ‘yung pagbigay sa kanila ng GCTA is already a void ab initio. Sa una pa lang, void na ito dahil nga hindi sila dapat nabigyan ng GCTA,” he said.
“I think also kaya nga tayo merong pakikipag-ugnayan sa DOJ meron din naman sila Department Order 953 series of 2015 na kailangan mo i-report ‘yung bibigyan mo ng GCTA for approval or evaluation ng GCTA. Remember it violated the procedure set forth by DOJ. So hindi binding lumalabas ‘yung pinirmahan ng director ng Bucor,” he added.
Faeldon reportedly signed the release papers of over 800 heinous crime convicts since he assumed the post in November 2018.
Among the release orders he signed was that of former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez, who was convicted for the rape-slay of UP Los Banos student Eileen Sarmenta and the killing of her friend Allan Gomez.
Faeldon also signed the release orders for several convicted drug lords.
A superintendent at the BuCor, Maria Fe Marquez, signed for Faeldon the release orders for Josman Aznar, Ariel Balansag and Alberto Caño on August 16, 2019.
The three men are among the seven men convicted for the rape-slay of the Chiong sisters in Cebu in 1997.
At the Senate hearing on the GCTA, some senators insinuated that millions of pesos changed hands for the grant of GCTA, which shortens prison terms of qualified PDLs.
Faeldon has left the BuCor compound together with his family. He reportedly packed his bags a few hours after Duterte demanded his immediate resignation over the GCTA controversy. (SunStar Philippines)