GIFT OF FREEDOM | Inmates from New Bilibid Prison (NBP) and other detention centers around the country were gathered outside the NBP compound before they were released on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. celebrated his birthday. Many of them had already served their sentences. (Photo by RICHARD A. REYES / Philippine Daily In
MANILA, Philippines — More than 350 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) were released from different prisons under the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) on Tuesday, in time for the 65th birthday of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Of the 371 inmates who were freed, 191 were from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa, 143 were from the Operating Prison and Penal Farms, and 37 were from the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong.
PDLs were also released from other BuCor facilities across the country: Davao Prison and Penal Farm (PPF), 45; Iwahig PPF in Puerto Princesa City, 31; Leyte Regional Prison, 30; San Ramon PPF in Zamboanga City, 19; and Sablayan PPF in Occidental Mindoro, 18.
Of these, 45 were already seniors aged 60 and above.
Early Christmas gift
Among those released, the majority at 240 had already served their maximum sentence. Ninety-eight PDLs had their request for parole granted, 31 were acquitted for their offenses, while the remaining two were placed under probation.
“Christmas Day has indeed come this early for these PDLs,” BuCor chief Director General Gerald Bantag said as he addressed the inmates from NBP and CIW at the BuCor headquarters in the national penitentiary.
Bantag asked the public to give the released PDLs a second chance when they come back to their communities.
“Please keep in your minds and hearts what you have learned while inside the prison, and promise to never make the same mistakes again,” he told the PDLs crowd.
Those who walked away from BuCor facilities on Tuesday were handed their certificate of discharge, grooming kit and transportation allowance enough for them to return to their homes.
More to be released
During the culminating activity, Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla said there is only one principle the BuCor and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology follow: “No one should stay a day more within prison if they deserve to be free.”
The justice secretary also said PDLs should be given the opportunity to learn new skills that will help them live an honorable life. He called on family members and lawyers not to abandon and forget relatives who are in prison.
ENVIRONMENTAL ACT | President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. marked his 65th birthday on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, by planting bamboo in San Mateo, Rizal. (Photo by MARIANNE BERMUDEZ / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Remulla on Tuesday said he was hoping that more batches of PDLs will be released in the coming months.
“If we are fortunate, there may be another batch in October, another in November and one more in Christmas. It will be continuous,” he said during the release of PDLs at the NBP.
Meanwhile, Marcos on Tuesday marked his 65th birthday by planting bamboo or “kawayang tinik” at an old sanitary landfill in San Mateo, Rizal, stressing the need for environmental protection to mitigate the impact of climate change.
The bamboo planting of the president was part of the simultaneous tree-planting activities nationwide led by the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources.
“We have to do this as a concrete step that we take so that nature is cared for because it desperately needs that care and it desperately needs that attention,” Marcos said in his speech.