ANOTHER convicted person deprived of liberty (PDL) who availed himself of the controversial Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law voluntarily surrendered to authorities in Tagapul-an, Samar Tuesday, September 10.
Police identified the PDL as Emiliano Mero, 72, a resident of Tagapul-an town.
Mero was detained on May 18, 2006 at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City for two counts of homicide. He was convicted on October 18, 2016 and sentenced to an imprisonment of 26 years, eight months and one day (minimum) to 29 years and four months (maximum), police said.
On August 20, 2019, he was released after he availed himself of the GCTA law based on the order of release signed by Corrections Superintendent Gerardo Padilla.
Mero is now under the custody of Tagapul-an Municipal Police Station for documentation process.
Earlier, Lieutenant Colonel Ma. Bella Rentuaya, police regional spokesperson, urged GCTA-freed convicted PDLs to surrender to the nearest police unit.
Rentuaya said they are still waiting for the official list of those GCTA-freed PDLs in Eastern Visayas.
On September 6 and 7, two GCTA-released convicted PDLs surrendered to authorities.
They were identified as Ireneo Busano, 56, from Villaba, Leyte, and Nimrod Purog from Victoria, Northern Samar.
On September 5, President Rodrigo Duterte called on 1,914 GCTA-freed convicted PDLs to surrender after the defective implementation of the law by the Bureau of Corrections.
Duterte gave 15 days for the said PDLs to turn themselves in to authorities in their area. (SunStar Philippines)