CBCP: Public should be vigilant against moves to free undeserving inmates 

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines— The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Friday called on the public to observe the inmates being released by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

CBCP Episcopal Commission on Prison and Pastoral Care Executive Secretary Bro. Rudy Diamante appealed to the public, the Parole and Probe Administration and prison volunteers to closely monitor the prisoners being set free, and make sure that such convicts deserve to be given a second chance.

“Dapat maging mapagmatyag tayo, yun ang hinihiling namin sa aming mga volunteers in prison, ganun na din sa aming partners sa Parole and Probation Administration na i-monitor yung mga taong lumalaya na hopefully hindi ito lalaya na out of para bang political consideration or out of corruption,” Diamante said over Church-run Radyo Veritas.

“[‘Yan] ang stand ng simbahan kasi we always look into how to go about reforming the kind of justice system that we have,” Diamante added.

This comes after the BuCor revealed said that 1,914 prisoners convicted for heinous crimes have been released as they benefitted from Republic Act 10592, which recomputes their good conduct time allowance (GCTA), was enacted into law in 2013.

The said number is part of the 22,049 total prisoners who were released from jail.

READ: BuCor: 1,914 heinous crimes prisoners given early freedom due to GCTA

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo later said that such inmates convicted for heinous crimes should go back to jail as they are not covered by RA 10592.

READ: Palace: Freed heinous crime convicts under GCTA rule must return to jail

Diamante earlier warned that the case of convicted rape-murderer ex-Calauan, Laguna mayor Antonio Sanchez would gain the public’s favor in reinstating the death penalty.

Sanchez was earlier reported to be up for release as he would benefit from RA 10592.

READ: Antonio Sanchez, more than 10k other inmates to get out of prison ‘soon’

“It seems like what they are saying is if there was death penalty, Sanchez would have been on the death row and we wouldn’t be having this problem. The issue is being politicized now. It appears that they want to make this as their argument in reviving the death penalty,” Diamante said.