MANILA – Prisoners who were convicted for heinous crimes are now excluded from earning time allowance grants, under the revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 10592 or the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) law.
Department of Justice secretary Menardo Guevarra and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Eduardo Año signed the revised IRR on Monday after a 10-day review conducted on the controversial law.
Guevarra said one of the important revisions in the IRR was the clarification regarding prisoners who are disqualified to avail the GCTA.
“Malaki ang pagkakaiba nitong revised IRR na pinagtulungan namin ng DILG. Unang-una, ginawa naming malinaw kung sino ang mga hindi kasama na makikinabang dito sa additional benefits na ibinibigay ng RA 10592,” Guevarra said.
“Maliwanag diyan na ‘yung mga escapees, mga habitual delinquents, recidivists, at saka mga convicted sa heinous crimes ay hindi makakasama sa mga benepisyo na ibinigay niyang batas na ‘yan,” he added.
Guevarra said the new IRR provides a clearer definition of what heinous crimes are, where it follows the list of heinous crimes punishable by death as provided by the country’s death penalty law.
“Dinefine na namin kung ano ‘yung heinous crimes. Kasi wala niyan dati eh, sinasabi lang ‘yung heinous crimes, pero ano ba ‘yung heinous crimes? So naglagay na kami ng definition dito sa bagong IRR,” he added.
Guevarra said that while good conduct of prisoners will be assessed monthly, the GCTA will only be granted on the 2nd, 5th, 10th and 11th year of the prisoners’ detention./PN
