MURDER convict Jesus Ranoco Negro Jr. had felt no enthusiasm in going out of the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) as he considered it home, and he had been making a living with other inmates through his talent in painting before he was released a year ago.
The 50-year-old was freed in August 2018 based on good conduct time allowance (GCTA). He is the first Cebuano convicted of a heinous crime to surrender to the police. He surrendered to the Bogo police on Wednesday night, Sept. 4, 2019. The next day, he was brought to the Regional Special Operations Group (Rsog) office in Cebu City. Rsog brought Negro to Abellana Police Station, which has a detention facility.
Two other Cebuano convicts surrendered on Friday, Sept. 6—Conrado Cortes, 74, and Danilo dela Victoria, 50.
Last Wednesday, Sept. 4, President Rodrigo Duterte verbally ordered to have all convicts who had been released on GCTA recalled to jail. He said he would consider putting up a P1 million bounty on each of them if they failed to surrender in 15 days.
Love lost
The other reason Negro wanted to stay inside the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City was his fear of being embraced by pain and sadness—his wife broke up with him after he landed in jail in 1988.
“She married someone else in America. I thought I could never get out because I was punished to serve a life sentence,” Negro said in Tagalog.
The former soldier’s estranged wife is living with their child.
Livelihood
In Cortes’s case, he was convicted of robbery with homicide. He was released from the NBP in June 2019 after serving 28 years of his sentence.
“I surrendered to protect myself. I don’t want to be on the wanted list after 15 days,” Cortes said in Cebuano, after his surrender to the Mabolo Police Station in Cebu City.
He further said: “My release from the medium security compound was honest. I did not bribe anyone.”
While serving his sentence at the NBP, Cortes learned how to repair refrigerators.
Victoria, 50, surrendered to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group 7. He was convicted of parricide after killing his father 30 years ago.
In December 2018, he was released from the San Ramon Penal Farm in Zamboanga City. He went home to Barangay Lahug, Cebu City to be with his wife and children, and start a new life.
His stay in San Ramon had taught him a lot of things, including the skill of making jewelry boxes.
Victoria said convicts like him who had been released based on GCTA should not be taken back to jail.
“Sa palagay ko po, ang desisyon ni Presidente Duterte ngayon parang tama; para ring mali. Ang mali diyan ay di na kailangan mag-surrender pa yung lumaya. Nandoon naman ang records namin. Dahil wala tayong magagawa, dahil siya man ang Presidente, sunod na lang tayo (In my opinion, I think the decision of President Duterte could be right; it could also be wrong. What’s wrong with it is that those who were freed should not be asked to surrender. They have our records. As we can do nothing about his decision, and he is the President, we will just follow him),” he said.
Coordinate
P/Lt. Col. Hector Amancia of CIDG 7 said his superiors will communicate and coordinate with the Bureau of Corrections on what to do with Victoria. The CIDG 7, he said, has no list of convicts who were freed based on GCTA.
Three men convicted in the 1997 rape-slay of the sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong—Ariel Balansag, Alberto Caño and Josman Aznar—were also released from the NBP based on GCTA. Aznar’s lawyer Edgar Gica said re-arresting the beneficiaries violates not only their civil rights under the Constitution, but also the laws of the land.
Nowhere to go
As to Negro, he said he did not go out right away after he was told he was a free man in August 2018. He felt afraid of what would happen to him outside the NBP.
He was forced to move out as he was not included in the food ration anymore. With no money after leaving jail, Negro made Luneta Park his new home.
After he was apprehended by the police for peeing in the park, Negro told his story. The officers pitied him, so they gave him money for his fare back to Cebu.
Negro urges the President to continue the implementation of the GCTA as there are several convicts who have served longer than their sentence, while others were just implicated in crimes they did not commit. He felt disappointed that a free man like him, freed because of good behavior while in the NBP, was ordered to surrender.
“Naiyak ako kasi mahirap makulong. Hindi ka naman tumakas; hindi ka naman lumayo, pero parang makulong ka ulit, ang hirap. Tapos parang malungkot ba (I cried because it is difficult to be in jail. You did not escape; you did not go far, but to go back to jail is hard. And it is sad),” Negro said.
After he returned home to Bogo City, he has been raising hogs to put food on his table. (from AYB of Superbalita Cebu/KAL)