DILG stopped manhunt for convicts freed through GCTA as surrenderees top list

September 23, 2019

The Department of Interior and Local Government ( DILG) on Monday said the increase in the number of surrenderees was the reason they suspended  manhunt operations against inmates convicted of heinous crimes and granted freedom due to good conduct and time allowance (GCTA).

In a press briefing, Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said they were expecting 1,914 inmates to surrender but more than 2,000 turned themselves in to government authorities.

“The last night and following morning of the deadline there are a lot of surrenderees, more than two thousand. It’s higher that the 1,914 who are in the list,” he said.

Because of this turnout, Ano said Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra asked him to suspend their operation “because the lives of those who will be mistakenly identified will be endangered.” 

“I said only the president can recall the order but be that as it may, we will wait for (the Department of Justice)  clean list before we start doing the arrest. But monitoring and tracking of these people will continue,” he said.

The DILG chief said the moment they get the clean list they will effectively arrest those who are unaccounted for.

“So far, the list has yet to be given so my instruction to the Philippine National Police, let us put on hold for a while. We will just continue to track them but without the list, we will not make an arrest,” said Ano.

The PNP said as of September 23, 2019, a total of 758 convicts have surrendered to them and 505 were turned over to the Bureau of Corrections.

It said 106 tracker teams are ready to be deployed once they receive the clean and final list from the Department of Justice.

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered inmates freed under the controversial GCTA law to surrender for 15 days which lapsed on September 19. Ella Dionisio/DMS