SC junks rapist-killer Sanchez’s bid for release due to technicality

January 5, 2020

The Supreme Court has dismissed the petition of convicted rapist-killer former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez that the government should release him as a beneficiary of the controversial good conduct time allowance law.

The high court, in a resolution issued on Dec. 3, 2019, a copy of which was made public only recently, said Sanchez failed to comply with the Rules of Civil Procedure.

Sanchez did not pay docket and other fees and there was no proof that a copy of his petition had been served to the other parties, the SC ruled.

The Court also found that Sanchez's petition did not include a notarized verification and certificate against non-forum shopping and there was insufficient number of copies filed.

Sanchez, who was convicted and sentenced in 1995 to seven counts of reclusion perpetua for killing two students of the University of the Philippines in 1993, filed a petition for mandamus before the SC to compel the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Corrections to release him on account of GCTA.

He was supposed to be freed under the law, but this sparked public outrage due to the gravity of his crime. The DOJ and BuCor held his release.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who was named as respondent along with BuCor, hailed the dismissal of the petition.

However, he expressed optimism that if Sanchez would refile the petition, the SC would again junk it for lack of merit.

Thousands of inmates who were initially released due to GCTA surrendered after President Rodrigo Duterte gave them an ultimatum last year. DMS