Imelda Marcos asked Duterte to grant Sanchez executive clemency

MANILA, Philippines — Former First Lady Imelda Marcos asked President Rodrigo Duterte in 2017 to consider granting executive clemency to convicted rapist and murderer former Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez.

At Tuesday’s Senate hearing prompted by the foiled release of Sanchez under a law increasing the number of days credited to good conduct time allowance (GCTA), Sanchez’s wife said she had asked several officials to vouch for the former mayor’s good conduct.

Among them was Marcos.

“We wrote [to] Rep. Imelda Marcos, asking help also from her,” Sanchez’s wife, Elvira, said, adding that she also asked multiple mayors and vice mayors from Laguna for the recommendations for good and moral character of her husband.

In a letter dated May 29, 2017, Marcos cited Sanchez’s “advanced age and failing health” as among the reasons for him to be released from prison.

“He has served more than twenty-four (24) years of his sentence and with the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) considered, would correspond to an estimated thirty-two (32) years of service,” Marcos, who was then Ilocos Norte 2nd District representative, said in the letter.

“Former Mayor Sanchez has also been granted with a Penal Colonist Status since June 14, 2012. Now seventy-one (71) years old, he hopes to be released from prison due to his advanced age and failing health,” she further pointed out.

Marcos then said that “the aforesaid circumstances represent a valid attention as regards to his behavior, character antecedents, mental and health condition” which she said “likewise justify a recommendation for executive clemency.”

In 1995, Sanchez was sentenced to seven life imprisonments for the brutal killing of two University of the Philippines – Los Baños students two years prior.

He was reportedly supposed to be released under the GCTA law but his early freedom was halted following public outcry. /jpv

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