The Bureau of Corrections has closed the door regarding the release of former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez, saying he is not qualified to get Good Conduct Time Allowance because he committed a heinous crime.
In a press briefing at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, Fredric Anthony Santos, head of the BuCor Legal Division, said all those who committed heinous crimes like Sanchez will not get GCTA under Republic Act 10592, enacted in 2013, which amended the Revised Penal Code and increased the time allowance given to detainees and prisoners.
As a result, Sanchez will have to serve his remaining sentence in Bilibid to complete his 40-year term of reclusion perpetua for the rape and killing of Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez, students of the University of the Philippines-Los Banos who were abducted and killed in 1993.
He was arrested in 1993 and convicted and sentenced to seven reclusion perpetua by a Pasig City court in 1995. He was brought to Bilibid immediately after his conviction.
The Supreme Court ruled last June that the application of time allowance for prisoners should be retroactive from the time a prisoner was arrested.
An earlier announcement by BuCor said that about 11,000 prisoners, including Sanchez, were candidates for release under RA 10592.
GCTA, according to a Department of Justice manual on RA 10592, is “a privilege granted to a PDL (persons deprived of liberty), entitling him or her to a reduction of prison term for every month of actual detention or service of sentence as a reward for good conduct and exemplary behavior.”
The Sanchez case has ignited public debate and the BuCor has decided to suspend for 10 days the recomputation of GCTA mandated under RA 10592, affecting about 10,000 prisoners that are candidates for release. (Jonathan Hicap)
