Duterte wants good conduct time allowance law amended

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has joined the call to amend the law that shortens the prison terms of inmates through the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) system.

In a press briefing in Malacañang on Wednesday, the President said he would want Congress to amend the GCTA law to “clarify everything.”

But he did not specify which provision of the law he would want to be amended.

“As President, it is my duty to solve the problem, rectify the error and maybe ask Congress to come up with a law clarifying everything,” he said. “I think a lot of them have already submitted amendatory bills.”

The President made the statement amid public outcry on the early release of more than 1,900 inmates of the National Bilibid Prison (NBP), including those who committed heinous crimes, allegedly due to a questionable implementation of the GCTA.

Among the high-profile inmates that could benefit from the law is rape-murder convict Antonio Sanchez, a former mayor of Calauan, Laguna, who was sentenced to serve seven 40-year prison terms for the rape and murder of Eileen Sarmenta and for the murder of Allan Gomez, both University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) students in 1993.

Almost half of the released convicts, or 816, got their freedom during the tenure of Bureau of Corrections Director General Nicanor Faeldon, whom the President fired on Wednesday.

READ: Duterte to Faeldon: You’re fired