Solon calls out discrepancy in BuCor’s data on freed convicts due to GCTA
MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker on Tuesday questioned the discrepancies in the data released by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) regarding the number of convicts released under the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) policy.
Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles said data that his office obtained from the office of the BuCor director-general showed that 22,049 prisoners were released from 2013 up to the present under Republic Act No. 10592.
However, in the presentation of BuCor during a House justice committee hearing, its data showed that only 18,885 prisoners were released under the said law.
“It behooves, it escapes me, how and why they are showing different numbers,” Nograles said.
BuCor Public Information Office chief Capt. Eusebio del Rosario explained that the data on 22,049 prisoners still included those who were released under parole and executive clemency.
“When we excluded them, the result is 18,885,” Del Rosario said.
Nograles, however, said that the answer is not accurate and “unacceptable.”
“I don’t think that is an accurate answer coming from the Bureau of Corrections considering the number that was released in 2013 should be zero because the implementing rules and regulations were published in 2014,” the party-list representative noted.
Further, in BuCor’s breakdown, it showed that 2,160 prisoners convicted of heinous crimes were released since 2013 under the GCTA law. However, the data it showed to the media last August 28 showed that only 1,914 heinous crime convicts were released.
READ: 1,914 heinous crime convicts freed under good conduct law
Nograles asked BuCor to explain the inconsistency in writing so that “the public may know why there is a difference in the 22,000 prisoners and the breakdown.”
House justice committee chairperson Vicente Veloso III also asked BuCor to explain why the number of released convicts “spiked up” throughout the years.
He pointed out the fact that getting a final conviction from the courts takes a long time and yet the number of released convicts under GCTA increased.
BuCor’s presentation at the House hearing showed that one heinous crime convict was released in 2013; 109 in 2014; 159 in 2015; 289 in 2016; 374 in 2017; 407 in 2018; and 821 in 2019.
“Masyadong mabilis tayo mag-release ng heinous crimes convicts kaysa affirmation ng Supreme Court sa mga appealed decisions ng regional trial courts,” Veloso pointed out. /kga
