2,500 convicts released from various prisons

MANILA, Philippines — More than 2,500 convicts were released from state penitentiaries in the country from January to November of 2020, including over 1,200 prisoners who were acquitted for criminal offenses they were initially found guilty of committing, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Of this number, only one was freed by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) after President Rodrigo Duterte granted him absolute pardon.

Emmeline Aglipay Villar, justice undersecretary, said 1,333 convicts were granted parole while two others were released after the cases against them were dismissed by the courts. She said the BuCor records showed that the number of convicts paroled last year was 35 percent more than those paroled in 2019.

Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta said their release was part of the Supreme Court’s intervention to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus in jails.

—Marlon Ramos