Aquino asked to speed up paroles, pardons

MANILA, Philippines—An official of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has called on President Aquino to act with dispatch on the petitions for pardon and parole from qualified prisoners.

Rudy Diamante, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care, said an estimated 16,000 prisoners are qualified for the grant of an executive clemency.

He said Aquino has failed to act on the recommendations for a presidential pardon to inmates petitioning for pardon, except to an already dead prisoner he pardoned in 2011.

The President’s first grant of executive clemency came four days late for convicted kidnapper Mariano Umbrero who died before Aquino could approve his petition for a pardon.

“Many of our prisoners are eligible to be pardoned. You will see that if you actually visit them. Considering their number, it is so rare to hear cases of inmates escaping from prison. The jailbreaks are more of exemptions to the rule,” said Diamante.

“My God, how many more years must we wait? Some of the inmates have been behind bars for more than 30 years. How come Aquino would not grant executive clemency?” he said.

New Bilibid Prison (NBP) Supt. Venancio Tesoro, who is also the spokesman for the Bureau of Corrections, disputed the 16,000 figure quoted by Diamante. He said there are only 3,000 inmates qualified for the grant of an executive clemency, which is 10 percent of the 34,000 inmate population at the NBP and the penal colonies.

He also disputed the claim that Aquino was not doing his job of pardoning deserving inmates.

“In the last five years, 8 out of 10 inmates released from prison were pardoned or given parole by the executive,” Tesoro said.

Tesoro said inmates who are qualified to be granted clemency are those who had served one-fifth of their sentence.

“They write to the President to ask for clemency. Once it is okay with the President, the case is handed over to the Board of Pardons and Parole for review,” he said.