Rape-slay convict and former Calauan, Laguna mayor Antonio Sanchez
MANILA, Philippines — Ako Bicol Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. filed Tuesday a resolution seeking a House inquiry into the implementation of the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) for prisoners.
This came amid reports about the possible early release from prison of rape-slay convict and former Calauan, Laguna mayor Antonio Sanchez.
The party-list lawmaker acknowledged that Republic Act No. 10592 is “good” law as it seeks to promote rehabilitation of prisoners and unclog the country’s overly populated jails.
However, Garbin said that “there is a need to determine whether the criterion used in the implementing rules of the law is consistent with the very law it seeks to implement.”
“More importantly, it should be determined whether someone should be made accountable for recommending the release of Sanchez pursuant to said Republic Act 10592,” the lawyer added in House Resolution No. 260.
Garbin pointed out that Sanchez’s probable release called into question whether there are sufficient safeguards placed in the law itself and/or in its implementing rules and regulations.
READ: DOJ suspends early release of convicts
The Department of Justice on Sunday suspended the processing of the early release for good conduct of thousands of prisoners amid public uproar on the possible release of Sanchez who was convicted for the 1993 rape-slay of University of the Philippines Los Baños student Eileen Sarmenta, and murder of her companion, Allan Gomez, in Laguna.
WHAT WENT BEFORE: ‘A plot seemingly hatched in hell’
Criticisms came after the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision penned by Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta on June 25, allowed the retroactive application of the grant of GCTA, meaning the law could apply even to those who were convicted before it was passed in 2013.
READ: Supreme Court ruling on RA No. 10592
Several House members have also opposed the release of Sanchez./ac
READ: Solons: Convicted rapist-murderer Sanchez ‘