JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II said on Tuesday he recommended to President Duterte the granting of executive clemency to 134 inmates.
In a news conference, Aguirre said the list of the inmates came from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City, the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City and other penal colonies operated by the Bureau of Corrections.
The list was already submitted to Malacañang two weeks ago, Aguirre said.
“I already sent messages to President Duterte and Special Assistant to the President [Christopher] Bong Go to expedite action on our recommendation,” Aguirre said.
Executive clemency is a power of the President to pardon any prisoner, provided for under Article VII, Section 19 of the Constitution, and pertains to reprieve, absolute or conditional pardon with or without parole conditions and commutation of sentence.
Parole is the conditional release of a prisoner from a correctional institution after he or she has served the minimum of his or her sentence.
The DOJ chief defended why the recommendation has yet to be acted upon by Malacañang, adding the President has a lot of things to work on.
“Maaaring natambakan ang rekomendasyon sa dami ng trabaho ng Pangulo,” he said, adding he is confident Duterte will approve the recommendation, since the move was in line with his promise to free inmates aged at least 80, and those who have spent at least 40 years behind bars. Aguirre said the list he submitted to the President included elderly and sickly inmates.
The list included 100 inmates recommended for commutation of sentences, 14 for conditional pardon with parole, 18 for conditional pardon without parole and two for absolute pardon.
The justice secretary said he made the recommendations for presidential pardon upon endorsement by the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP), after review of the eligibility of the inmates on the list.
Aguirre, however, said he could not recall if the list included political prisoners whom the National Democratic Front (NDF) have asked to be released.
The NDF, currently engaged in peace talks with the government to end the long-running armed conflict in the country, is seeking the release of all political prisoners. But Aguirre said there was no prominent inmate on the list.
Last November Duterte granted pardon to actor Robin Padilla, after he was among those recommended by the BPP for executive clemency.
Padilla—Robinhood Ferdinand Cariño Padilla in real life—is a known supporter of Duterte. He applied for absolute pardon for his 1994 conviction for illegal possession of firearms, where he was sentenced with up to 21 years in prison.
He served three years at the NBP in Muntinlupa before being released in April 1997 by then President Fidel Ramos.
The BPP earlier said as of November 2015, it has listed 473 inmates seeking executive clemency.
Under the Aquino administration, only nine inmates were granted clemency.