Lacson: 4 Chinese drug convicts released from Bilibid in June

Four Chinese nationals convicted of drug offenses have been released supposedly for good behavior, according to Sen. Ping Lacson who is set to question the implementation of a law that shaves time off a prison sentence when the Senate opens an inquiry into it next week.

The four who were held at the maximum security compound of New Bilibid Prison—Chan Chit Yue, Kin San Ho, Ching Che and Wu Hing Sum—were released in June, Lacson said on Thursday.

He did not give other details of the cases against the four men.

There was no immediate comment from the Department of Justice (DOJ), which oversees the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) that runs Bilibid. Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete, the DOJ spokesperson, said they had to first validate the reported release of the Chinese convicts.

BuCor legal division chief Fredric Anthony Santos refused to confirm or deny Lacson’s report.

Bureau of Immigration (BI) deputy spokesperson Melvin Mabulac, said his agency had custody of the four men.

He said they were being detained at the BI’s warden facility awaiting deportation “for being undesirable alien for being accused and/or convicted of a crime.”

Aborted Sanchez release

Lacson said he would ask the BuCor for the list of prisoners whom it had freed under Republic Act No. 10592, which gives good conduct time allowance to prisoners. (See related story.)

He said he was trying to get a copy of the release orders for other prisoners, including Antonio Sanchez, who was sentenced to seven 40-year prison terms for the 1993 rape and murder of Eileen Sarmenta and the murder of her friend Allan Gomez, both students of the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

The reported early release of the former mayor of Calauan, Laguna, which his family said was supposed to have been on Aug. 20, was aborted amid public outrage. It also drew attention to the good conduct time allowance law.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, BuCor chief Nicanor Faeldon and presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo, who was Sanchez’s lawyer in the 1993 case, later said he was ineligible for release under the law.

Faeldon also denied that he had signed a release order for Sanchez, according to Guevarra.

Who’s liable?

Lacson said he wanted to determine who should be held liable for any questionable action taken in relation to crediting good conduct to prisoners.

“That would be one of the objectives of the hearing, not just to review the provisions in the Revised Penal Code and the definition of good conduct time allowance, but also to hold accountable [responsible officials],” he told reporters.

Lacson also said he could not help but wonder if money had changed hands in the release of Bilibid inmates.

“I’m not saying it happened. But as I said, we can think about this. Why is the release in bulk, why so many?” he said. —WITH REPORT FROM DEXTER CABALZA AND TINA G. SANTOS