As the deadline for the nearly 2,000 freed convicts to surrender ended midnight last night, the Philippine National Police has started to deploy more than 100 tracker teams to re-arrest those who defied President Duterte’s order for them to voluntarily go back to prison.
“Effective Friday, we are shifting to manhunt operations. We will exert all our efforts to arrest all those who still have to be accounted,” said PNP spokesman Police Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac.
In Metro Manila, all station and precinct commanders have been ordered to ensure enough manpower at least until midnight last night to accommodate the last-minute surrender of convicts freed through the Good Conduct Time Allowance law.
Police Major Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, director of the National Capital Region Police Office, appealed to the relatives of the GCTA-freed convicts to take the initiative of convincing their kin to heed Duterte’s request to peacefully turn themselves in due to the controversy surrounding their release.
“The police precincts, police stations, and our offices here at NCRPO are open 24 hours, and we shall be ready to arrange for your turnover to the proper authorities,” said Eleazar. “After midnight, we shall be fielding tracker teams to pursue and arrest these men,” he stressed.
At least 1,900 convicts, most of them charged with heinous crimes, have been freed due to the GCTA law which was intended to give a chance for convicts to reform themselves while at the same time decongest jails.
The GCTA controversy started when convicted rapist-killer former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez was allowed to avail himself of the GCTA despite the prohibition against those convicted of heinous crimes.
The inclusion of “pork barrel” fund scam mastermind Janet Napoles also triggered speculations of massive corruption in the implementation of the law.
As of yesterday morning, the PNP has accounted a total of 579 freed convicts, 349 of them have been turned over to the Bureau of Corrections. (Aaron Recuenco)