BuCor acting Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr.
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) is hoping President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will approve the release of more than 3,000 elderly and sickly inmates to decongest its penal facilities, which are now holding thrice their intended capacity.
BuCor acting Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said there were 3,086 inmates age 65 and above—the oldest being 96—being held in all of BuCor’s seven prisons and penal farms across the country.
Their names would be submitted to the President “next week” in hopes that they may be granted executive clemency, Catapang said.
Compassionate justice
“When you go around the other prison colonies, you would really pity them. They’re so old, they’re already in wheelchairs, they can’t move. They are having a hard time because they’re like canned sardines,” the official said in an ANC interview on Thursday.
Catapang said this latest move to decongest the prisons was in compliance with the president’s directive to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its attached agencies to adopt a policy of “compassionate justice for all.”
Should Marcos grant clemency to this batch of inmates, “that will be a historic release for the aged PDLs (persons deprived of liberty),” Catapang said. “If this will push through, this will be the biggest single mass release of inmates” and will help improve the situation in BuCor.
Previous administrations usually release around 1,000 inmates in time for Christmas.
According to BuCor, 5,011 inmates had been released since January this year, of whom 2,059 were freed since the start of the Marcos administration on June 30.
Rules on parole
Under the Section 19, Article VII, of the Constitution, the president has the power to grant commutation of sentence and pardon.
“Except in cases of impeachment, or as otherwise provided in this Constitution, the President may grant reprieves, commutations and pardons, and remit fines and forfeitures after conviction by final judgment,” it said.
Under the Interim Rules on Parole and Executive Clemency adopted by the Board of Pardons and Parole in April 2020, inmates eligible for parole or executive clemency include convicts age 65 and above; those who have served at least five years of their sentence; and inmates whose continued imprisonment would be inimical to their health.
For those in the last category, they require a recommendation from a physician of BuCor Hospital and a certification from the Department of Health or from an authority designated by the Malacañang clinic director.
Slow processing of records
Priority is given to inmates who are elderly, sickly or suffering from terminal or life-threatening illnesses, or with a serious disability.
Inmates convicted of heinous crimes or drug-related offenses, or those classified as “high-risk” prisoners, are not eligible under the interim rules.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla earlier committed to releasing at least 5,000 PDLs by June 2023, a goal he also mentioned in his speech at a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in October.
He also noted that many inmates had already served their sentences but remained in prison due to procedural oversight or the slow processing of their records.
Regionalization
New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City currently holds 29,204 inmates in a facility intended for only 6,435.
Catapang said the release of elderly and sickly inmates was only a “short-term” solution to the congestion.
For a more systematic and long-term approach, he said, BuCor has asked Congress for funds to build more prison facilities, preferably one for each of the country’s 17 regions.
The bureau currently operates seven: NBP, the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City, the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm (PPF) in Occidental Mindoro, the Iwahig Prison in Puerto Princesa City, the Leyte Regional Prison, the Davao PPF and the San Ramon PPF in Zamboanga City.
The DOJ, BuCor’s mother agency, did make its own budget request for the “regionalization” of the prisons.
It instead asked for P4 billion for the construction of a “super maximum” security prison in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro, that can hold 2,000 convicts of heinous crimes.
The agency also asked for P5 billion to repair existing BuCor facilities.