Senator Leila M. de Lima has expressed belief that the revised rules of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) Law is meant to cover up for the corruption in the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and the obvious negligence in its implementation.
De Lima said the new Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of GCTA Law failed to reflect its original intent towards genuine prison reform in the country by removing the opportunity for Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) to have a second chance at life.
“Ang bagong IRR nila ay walang ibang kabuluhan kung hindi ang isakripisyo ang mga karapat dapat na makalayang PDL para pagtakpan ang panggagago ni Faeldon at Panelo,” she said in her recent Dispatch from Crame No. 605.
“At parang Pontio Pilato, naghugas sila ng kamay at pinasa na lang ang paghatol sa Korte Suprema. Samantala, ang mga dapat malaya na ay kinulong muli o binantaan ng “shoot-to-kill” order kung hindi susuko, at ang mga dapat lumaya ay hinubaran na nang tuluyan ng pag-asa,” she added.
The Duterte administration has scrambled to issue a revised IRR of the Republic Act (RA) No. 10592, or the Expanded GCTA Law, after getting criticisms over its alleged misuse and abuse of GCTA to benefit unqualified and undeserving PDLs.
Drafted by the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the new IRR now categorically excludes convicts of heinous crime, regardless of their good behavior in prison, from availing of GCTA and other time allowances. That renders the IRR ultra vires, according to De Lima.
Instead of defending the new IRR amid questions on its legality and faithfulness to the GCTA Law, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra merely said that people can challenge the IRR before the court – a statement that De Lima found unacceptable.
The lady Senator from Bicol maintained that any head of agency in charge of promulgating the IRR of a law should be convinced himself of the correctness of that IRR and should be able to stand by its regularity.
“DOJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra does not seem to be so confident with their revised IRR on RA 10592. He believes that if it is not the correct interpretation of the law, it is up to the Supreme Court to settle any question raised against it,” she said.
“With due respect to Sec. Guevarra, this is passing the buck to the Court,” added De Lima, the first prominent political prisoner under the Duterte regime.
While she thanked Guevarra for not pinning the blame to her over the GCTA mess, De Lima still condemned the continuous attempt by the Duterte administration to blame her and the original IRR to save its corrupt allies like sacked BuCor chief Nicanor Faeldon.
“Buking na buking na kasi ang kanilang kahayupan sa pagpapalaya sa malinaw na hindi maaaring makalabas sa ilalim ng GCTA Law. Pero pinilit nila dahil sila ang nasa kapangyarihan. Ginamit at nagpagamit naman ang ilang kasama ko sa Senado para ilihis ang isyu kay Faeldon at Panelo,” she said.
It may be recalled that some allies of Mr. Duterte took turns in implicating De Lima in the reported money-making schemes inside the BuCor, including the early release of inmates convicted of heinous crimes under the GCTA Law.
De Lima has earlier called out the Duterte administration to stop using her as a convenient scapegoat in the mess created by the abuses in granting GCTA to unqualified or undeserving convicted inmates by the President’s minions.
