579 GCTA-freed convicts surrender to PNP, so far

MANILA, Philippines – A total of 579 convicts believed to have been erroneously released due to the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law have surrendered to the police as of the early hours of Thursday, September 19, 2019,  the deadline imposed by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Philippine National Police data showed that as of 6 a.m. on Thursday,  162 released murder convicts turned themselves in, along with 160 convicted rape, 60 convicted of homicide, 56 convicted of robbery with homicide, 26 convicted of drug-related cases, 21 of murder and frustrated murder, while the rest were convicted of other crimes.

The data also includes several non-heinous crime convicts who will be subjected to evaluation by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

A total of 349 convicts who surrendered to different police stations nationwide have been turned over to BuCor, the PNP said.

On September 4, 2019, Duterte ordered over 1,700 heinous crime convicts released due to the GCTA law to surrender in 15 days or face warrantless arrest.

Section 1 of the Republic Act 10592 or the GCTA law states that heinous crime convicts are not covered by the said law which allows the early release or shortened sentence of convicts of lesser crimes due to good conduct.

As of 8:20 a.m. on Tuesday (Sept. 17), the Department of Justice has recorded 692 convicts released on good conduct who have surrendered to PNP and BuCor authorities.