A BIPARTISAN consensus is emerging in the Senate for a full investigation of the circumstances behind the reported impending release—under a law on good conduct time allowance—of former Mayor Antonio Sanchez, convicted and sentenced to seven life terms for the rape and murder of a UPLB coed and the torture and murder of her boyfriend.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon thumbed down the prospect of releasing Sanchez, who was sentenced with six others and has been in prison for 26 years.
“Sa akin po, disqualified siya [As far as I’m concerned, he’s disqualified],” said Drilon, who served as secretary of Justice before his election to the Senate.
For his part, Senate President Vicente Sotto III filed a resolution seeking an investigation into how Sanchez ended up being qualified for the law that was meant to decongest prisons by speeding up the release of qualified inmates with good-conduct time allowance.
Drilon pointed out that “under existing implementing rules and regulations, good conduct is defined as conspicuous and satisfactory behavior, which involves active participation in a rehabilitation program, coupled with faithful observance of the rules of the detention.”
From those alone, “he cannot qualify for good conduct,” Drilon said in a mix of English and Filipino.
As indication of Sanchez’s “bad behavior,” Drilon noted that the jailed mayor was “reported to be involved in shabu trading in Muntinlupa.”
Drilon who was Justice secretary when Sanchez was convicted, noted that the “premise on good conduct time allowance is, as the rule says, conspicuous and satisfactory behavior [which includes] rehabilitation programs and compliance with the rules of detention.”
Sanchez “does not qualify there,” Drilon asserted, adding that “from there alone he cannot avail of good conduct time allowance. Why was he included there—that reduced yung sentence. It’s wrong.”
The Senate Minority Leader confirmed he had asked the DOJ to defer consideration of Sanchez’s application until this issue is clarified.
“In my reading of what was reported, he is not qualified because of his involvement in the drug trade, so he must serve his full sentence,” Drilon said, adding: “For the record, he [Sanchez] was sentenced for seven life terms. We charged him with conspiracy to rape and kill Sarmenta and Gomez. Under the law, the act of one is the act of all in a conspiracy. Since each of the accused is convicted for 40 years, theoretically, each one has a sentence of seven life terms— that’s 280 years, except that there is a law, the Revised Penal Code, that says that the maximum a person can be jailed is 40 years. That is why he was supposed to serve 40 years. Having said that, he should serve the full sentence. He should not be included among those with good conduct allowance.”
Angara weighs in
For Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, “the reduction of prison sentences is not a mathematical formula that can be computed separate and isolated from other factors that must be considered.”
In a statement, Angara said, “It is not an estimation solely driven by the mechanical subtraction of years from the sentence. There are qualitative considerations like good behavior or if the inmate, by his actions, had exhibited true remorse and rehabilitation.”
He added: “If the person had committed a crime while in prison, like stashing shabu inside the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, does this not affect his chances of clemency or even forfeits it?
“In his ledger of sins, does the commission of a new crime cancel whatever penalty was extinguished by previous good conduct?
“Does the new law cited by the DOJ exempt “recidivists, habitual delinquents, escapees and persons charged with heinous crimes” from its coverage or does it take the likes of Sanchez from its purview?”
Angara also wondered aloud why, in the grant of clemency, the friends and family of the victims were not “mandatorily consulted.” As the ones “directly suffering from the loss,” their views should be the first to be solicited and given much weight, he added.
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Image credits: Public Relation and Information Bureau – Public Relation and Information Bureau, Senate of the Philippines