MANILA – The Department of Justice (DOJ) said thousands of convicts, including former mayor Antonio Sanchez of Calauan, Laguna are set to be released from prison in the next two months.
DOJ secretary Menardo Guevarra said the freedom of several prisoners was made possible after authorities re-compute deductions from their sentence for good conduct.
Guevarra added Sanchez was one of the thousands of inmates eligible for the re-computation of good conduct time allowances based on Republic Act No. 10592 and a Supreme Court (SC) ruling that made the effect of the law retroactive.
“Isa sa mga magbe-benefit doon ay si mayor Sanchez daw, kasi matagal na rin siyang nakulong, pati siya mae-entitle doon sa computation ng good conduct time allowance,” Guevarra said.
Sanchez has been convicted by Pasig Regional Trial Court for rape and murder of University of the Philippines Los Baños student Mary Eileen Sarmenta and the murder of her friend Allan Gomez in 1995.
Sanchez, who was detained at the New Bilibid Prison, was sentenced to seven terms of reclusion perpetua or imprisonment for 30 to 40 years. The Supreme Court in 1999 upheld the Pasig court ruling.
RA 10592 amends provisions of the law on the sentence reductions of a convicted prisoner or an inmate on preventive imprisonment based on good conduct.
The law was initially made prospective in application, meaning it will only apply to cases that occurred after it was enacted in 2013 but an SC verdict on June 25 changed the application to retroactive, effectively covering more inmates./PN
Here is another batch of graduates from the national school of criminals. The jails will be empty for a while until the temptation to prey on the old and the weak, and its back to crazy and criminal normal.