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BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has been urged to give “the gift of clemency” next month to sick and elderly prisoners.
Granting deserving prisoners pardon and parole will help decongest the country’s overflowing prisons, said Senate minority leader Ralph Recto.
“It shows the power and potential of reformative justice. Those who have passed the more than minimum requirements of parole should be given a second chance,” Recto said.
According to the senator, the pardon power was exercised rarely during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.
Duterte, he said, should restore the Malacañang Christmas tradition of granting a presidential pardon on humanitarian grounds.
“There is no lack of candidates for executive clemency as the country’s penal system is full of old, infirm, gravely or terminally ill prisoners, especially those who are convicted of nonviolent crime,” Recto said.
“The presidential tradition of releasing prisoners during the holidays should extend to directing agencies to work out the release of detainees awaiting sentencing but have already stayed beyond what would be their maximum time in prison.”
In August, the Senate leader filed a resolution seeking to investigate the “worsening conditions” inside Philippine jails.
The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) run the “prison republic.” BJMP detains individuals who are awaiting trial and those who have been sentenced by the courts to serve a prison sentence of three years and below, while BuCor houses accused with a prison term of more than three years and one day.
Recto said that BJMP-supervised jails are 397 percent over capacity. The prisons under BuCor, on one hand, have a congestion rate of 158 percent.
“Instead of rehabilitating prisoners, harsh jail conditions could make them hardened criminals, with jails serving as masteral schools for a career in crime,” he stressed.
Earlier, Duterte said he was “contemplating” on granting Christmas pardon to old and sick prisoners.
“Lahat ng matatanda at saka may sakit, ‘yung mga may rayuma, hindi na makakatakbo, 80-years-old and above,” the 72-year-old former mayor of Davao City listed may be candidates for clemency after he granted actor Robin Padilla absolute pardon on Tuesday./PN
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