THE Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday announced that the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP) has found 117 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) are set to be released after it was established that they are eligible for parole.
DOJ spokesman Markk Perete also said another 424 PDLs are also likely to be granted parole under the Interim Guidelines for Parole and Executive Clemency.
The 424 PDLs are just awaiting clearance from the National Bureau of Investigation before their eligibility is confirmed.
The interim guidelines have simplified the procedure for the grant of parole and executive clemency to PDLs who are elderly and sick since they are considered most vulnerable to Covid-19 infection.
The initial batch of confirmed and possible beneficiaries under the Interim Guidelines—which so far total 541 PDLs—came from the 600 PDLs whose carpetas, or prison records, have been transferred by Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to the BPP for evaluation. The BPP is set to receive a new batch of carpetas for evaluation this week.
It can be recalled that last April 15, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra gave the BPP the go signal to implement its resolution adopting provisional rules that would expedite the release of PDLs through parole, or executive clemency, as part of the government’s measures to contain the transmission of the deadly virus.