Año says criminals ordered released by BuCor under GCTA should return to prison

September 3, 2019

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Tuesday said criminals allowed by the Bureau of Corrections to be released due to Good Conduct and Time Allowance (GCTA) should return to prison.

"For me, if they committed heinous crimes and (they are) drug lords and head of Chinese drug syndicates, they should be returned back (to jail)," Año said.

He added that if the computation of their GCTA which is the reason for their release is wrong, the government should correct it.

"We can see that the computation is not right. If we are wrong then we should correct it," he said.

Año said he does not know who is the proper authority who could revise the decision.

"Maybe the President (Rodrigo Duterte) or the Supreme Court. I will discuss it with (Justice) Secretary (Menardo) Guevarra," he said.

On August 29, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Justice formed a committee that will review the existing guidelines in computing GCTA.

In a joint department order, the two agencies ordered a 10-day suspenstion in the processing and awarding of GCTA.

Año said they will recommend any changes on the IRR at the Congress after the review.

He added that the suspension could be continuous even after the 10-day review but he will not declare it indefinite.

Based on the data of BuCor, a total of 1,914 prisoners convicted of heinous crimes have been granted early release since 2014 because of GCTA.

If the decision will be revised, Año said they have tracker teams that can do warrantless arrest on these inmates.

"Once you cancel (the release) they become fugitives and fugitives are actually wanted people," he said.

"Mostly of these people are probably back in their homes now and I think majority of them can be arrested," he added. Ella Dionisio/DMS