MANILA, Philippines — The five students of the University of the Philippines (UP) convicted for the murder of Dennis Venturina have been released from the New Bilibid Prison due to the law that increased the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) for prisoners.
The five UP students, members of the Scintilla Juris fraternity, were released around April, Edgar Venturina, the father of Dennis, said in Filipino in an interview on Wednesday with AM radio station DZMM.
Asked if he thought the suspects were released under the GCTA, he replied: “Right now, that’s how it appears. It’s only now that bits of information are coming out. At that time, there was nothing, no information whatsoever.”
Scintilla Juris members were Daniel Feliciano Jr., Julius Victor Medalla, Christopher Soliva, Warren Zingapan, and Robert Michael Beltran Alvir.
They were found guilty of the murder of Ventura, a member of rival Sigma Rho fraternity, during a rumble on the UP Diliman campus in December 1994.
The Supreme Court upheld the convictions of all five accused in June 2014, nearly 20 years after the incident.
READ: SC upholds murder conviction of 5 UP fratmen
“There was someone who went to the BuCor [Bureau of Corrections] to check if they were getting VIP treatment. As turned out, they had already been released,” Venturina said.
“There was some who told me during a get-together I attended in Nueva Ecija: ‘Pare, maybe they’re getting VIP treatment.‘ As it turned out, they no longer VIPs. They already got their freedom.”
Edgar added that he was not informed of the release of the convicts.
INQUIRER.net reached out to BuCor chief Nicanor Faeldon and BuCor spokesperson Eusebio Del Rosario Jr. for confirmation. However, they have not responded as of this writing.
/atm