BuCor exec contradicts Faeldon: Memorandum order is release order

MANILA, Philippines — The memorandum order signed  by sacked Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Nicanor Faeldon is a release order, an official told a Senate hearing on Thursday.

This was contrary to Faeldon’s earlier claim that the memorandum order or memorandum of release for persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) was not a release order.

“There is no order yet to release, your honor. As far as the ex-mayor is concerned, there is a memorandum of release recommended for his release,” Faeldon said during the September 2 hearing of the Senate committee on justice.

Faeldon was referring to former Calauan, Laguna mayor Antonio Sanchez, whose aborted  release because of the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) for inmates, prompted the probe.

But during the hearing of the committee on Thursday, BuCor Director  Maria Fe Marquez, contradicted Faeldon when Senator Panfilo Lacson asked about the memorandum she had signed for the release  of 44 PDLs last August 16.

Among the release orders signed by Marquez were for three of the seven men convicted for the rape and murder of sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong in Cebu.

READ: Faeldon confirms release of 3 convicts in Chiong sisters rape-slay case

Marquez said she was asked to sign the documents because Faeldon at that time was in Sablayan prison in Occidental Mindoro.

“Oh hindi ba mahintay na bumalik sa National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa for him to sign? Ganun ba nagmamadali na kailangang pronto, August 16 pirmahan yung memorandum? He was just in the country, he was not even abroad,” Lacson asked.

“Bakit minamadali yung pagpirma  na kailangan pirmahan agad on August 16? Hindi ba makahintay ng August 17 yun when he (Faeldon) came back from Sablayan?” he further asked.

Marquez’s reply that they “don’t want to be charged with arbitrary detention”  did not sit well with Lacson.

“Paano magkakaroon ng arbitrary detention? Ang arbitrary detention applies only to reglementary period… But these are convicts. Paano ka macha-charge ng arbitrary detention?” Lacson again asked.

“My understanding is that release orders should be acted promptly,” Marquez  later said

At this point, Lacson mentioned Faeldon’s earlier claim that the memorandum order was different from a release order.

“Sabi ni BuCor chief Faeldon, yung memorandum is not a release order. Precisely I was arguing that it was a release order that he signed. Ngayon, sinasabi nyo naman, yung memorandum is actually a release order. Which is which?”

“My best understanding is that it is a release order. A memorandum to release,” Marquez stressed.   /muf