ILOILO City – Today is the last day the 15-day surrender ultimatum issued by President Rodrigo Duterte to convicts freed due to the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) Law.
Of the 144 freed convicts from Western Visayas, only 44 surfaced as of this writing yesterday.
The 100 remained unaccounted. The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) created tracker teams to locate them.
Police Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, regional police director, said these 100 freed convicts have until 5 p.m. today to yield.
“By tomorrow, these 100 freed convicts would be deemed fugitives. We will start hunting them,” said Pamuspusan.
The GCTA Law has come under scrutiny after the Department of Justice announced that convicted rapist-killer Antonio Sanchez, former mayor of Calauan, Laguna, might be released from prison because of supposed good behavior. An alarmed President Duterte ordered those already released to surrender for a review their time served in prison.
The 44 convicts who surrendered were from Aklan (10), Antique (three), Capiz (six), Iloilo province (14), Negros Occidental (seven), Iloilo City (three), and Bacolod City (one).
Pamuspusan warned the 100 still unaccounted freed convicts not to resist arrest.
“If they put up a fight, they could be killed. We also want to protect ourselves, ‘Yan ang ibig sabihin ng ating Presidente na shoot to kill,” he said.
The President is offering a P1-million reward for the arrest of all freed convicts who fail to surrender within his 15-day surrender ultimatum period.
Last week the PRO-6 said a total of 149 convicts from Western Visayas have been released by the Bureau of Corrections since 2013 in line with the GCTA Law.
But it later clarified that five of the 149 were actually under parole and probation./PN
