Did the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) in Muntinlupa err in generating the list of heinous crime prisoners who were granted good conduct time allowance (GCTA) and released from prison?
The list submitted by BuCor to the Senate showed that Janet Lim Napoles, who was convicted by courts of serious illegal detention in 2015 but acquitted in 2017, and of plunder in December 2018, was released from prison on Nov. 12, 2018 due to expiration of sentence.
But it showed that Napoles’ crime was rape instead of plunder.
Napoles’ name is listed as No. 275 and with prison number N211P-2332, which is not her real prison number. The “N” means that she was admitted to the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa in 2011 (“211”). Her convictions were in 2015 and 2018.
But the NBP is only for male convicts. Female convicts are incarcerated at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong, one of the penal facilities of BuCor.
After her conviction of serious illegal detention, she was admitted to the CIW in April 2015 and was given prison number C215P-083.
When she was acquitted by the Court of Appeals in May 2017, she was transferred to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City to face plunder charges.
The Sandiganbayan convicted her of plunder on Dec. 7, 2018 for her involvement in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam. From Camp Bagong Diwa, she was ordered to return to CIW to serve her sentence of reclusion perpetua.
The list showed that Napoles was one of the 1,714 heinous crime prisoners with GCTA released under the Duterte administration from July 2016 to Aug. 20, 2019.
EXPLAIN
Meanwhile, Department of Justice (DoJ) spokesman and Undersecretary Markk Perete said the BuCor was called to explain why Janet Napoles was included in the list prisoners released due to GCTA.
“We have asked BuCor an explanation on this. As of the moment, no info pa,” Perete told reporters on Thursday.
Perete assured Napoles remains incarcerated at CIW.
“Janet Lim Napoles has not been released. She remains at the Correctional Institution for Women,” Perete stated. (Jonathan Hicap, Jeffrey Damicog)
