The Supreme Court has required the Department of Justice and the Department of Interior and Local Government to answer the petition that challenged the constitutionality of the new implementing rules and regulations on the expanded Good Conduct Time Allowance law under Republic Act No. 10592.
In an interview after his speech during the National Summit on the Dangerous Drugs Law at the historic landmark Manila Hotel yesterday, Chief Justice Lucas P. Bersamin said the DoJ and the DILG were given 10 days to file their comment through the Office of the Solicitor General.
Bersamin said: “Rule making is internal to the DoJ and we (the SC) do not interfere. But now if the guidelines were already issued and there is a case filed, we have to require the other party, that is the government, to comment through the Solicitor General.”
The petition against the new IRR on GCTA was filed by several Persons Deprived of Liberty at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City.
The PDLs told the SC their petition is in behalf of other prisoners who are similarly situated and would be disadvantaged with the implementation of the new IRR by the Bureau of Corrections and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
Specifically, the PDLs – through lawyer Rolito Abing – asked the SC to stop the BuCor and the BJMP from retroactively applying the exclusions introduced under Section 1 and Section 3 of RA 10592. (Rey Panaligan)
