Duterte to grant executive clemency to 127 convicts
President Rodrigo Duterte will sign the order granting executive clemency to 127 convicts next week, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said.
Aguirre said the executive clemency will be given to the elderly and sickly inmates.
He said there are no high profile inmates included in the list.
He said the inmates came from the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City and other penal colonies operated by the Bureau of Corrections.
Included in the 127 convicts to receive executive clemency are 14 for conditional pardon with parole, 18 for conditional pardon without parole conditions and two for absolute pardon.
He, however, said he could not recall if the list included political prisoners who have been asked to be released by the National Democratic Front.
Article continues after this advertisementThe NDF, which is currently engaged in peace talks with the government to end the long-running armed conflict in the country, is seeking the release of all political prisoners.
Article continues after this advertisementLast year, Duterte granted absolute pardon to actor Robin Padilla as he was among those recommended by the Board of Pardons and Parole for executive clemency.
Padilla, a known supporter of Duterte, was granted conditional pardon in 1997 by then president Fidel Ramos after serving several years of the 21-year sentence imposed on him for illegal possession of firearms in 1994.
The BPP earlier said that as of November 2015, it has listed 473 inmates seeking executive clemency.
Executive clemency or pardon is a power given to the President to pardon any prisoner, provided for under Article VII, Section 19 of the Constitution and pertains to reprieve, absolute or conditional pardon with or without parole conditions and commutation of sentence.
Parole on the other hand is the conditional release of a prisoner from a correctional institution after he or she has served the minimum of his or her sentence. CDG
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