4 convicts freed thru GCTA yield

By: Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – Four convicts in Negros island surrendered to the police on September 9 after the cancellation of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) Law.

Two convicts were from Negros Occidental while two others were from Negros Oriental.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Adrian Acollador, deputy provincial director for administration of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo), said a resident of Barangay  Maaslob, Calatrava town who was convicted of homicide on November 15, 2010 and was released from New Bilibid Prison (NBP) last April 9, 2019 turned himself in to the police.

He was placed under the safekeeping of Calatrava Municipal Police Station but he was not put inside the custodial facility.

Another convict also surrendered to the police in La Castellana town. He was sentenced to jail for frustrated murder on October 18,2016 and was released last April 6, 2019. He was released after presenting himself at the station.

Acollador said these convicts will be subjected for booking and documentation.

“We will wait for the order from the higher headquarters to facilitate their transport to the NBP,” he added.

In a press conference at Nocppo headquarters yesterday, Acollador said they don’t have the list of convicts who were freed by virtue of GCTA in the province.

He said they are waiting for the guidelines from the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame for the disposition of the surrendered convicts.

He said convicts who have yet to surrender will be subjected to house visitation.

Once we have identified them, we will ask them to surrender, he added.

In Negros Oriental, a 53-year-old man in Bayawan City who also availed the GCTA surrendered to the police.

He was sentenced for violation of Presidential Decree 1866 or the Unlawful Manufacture, Sale, Acquisition, Disposition or Possession of Firearms or Ammunition or Instruments Used or Intended to be Used in the Manufacture of Firearms of Ammunition, frustrated homicide, and less serious physical injuries.

In Mabinay town, a 69-year-old resident of Amlan town also submitted himself to the police.

He was sentenced to two counts of murder on February 1, 2001 and was released from imprisonment at Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro last August 23.

Police Chief Master Sergeant Edelberto Euroba, public information officer of Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (Norppo), said both convicts are now under police custody while they’re waiting for the directive from the higher office to transport them to their respective jails.

Meanwhile, the Bacolod City Police Office advised GCTA recipients in the city to surrender.

Police Lt. Colonel Ariel Pico, BCPO spokesperson, said they have not received reports from the 10 police stations in the city of any convicts who surrendered.

Pico said if any convict surrenders to them, they will undergo the usual procedure of booking, wherein their pictures and fingerprints will be taken.

The data will then be turned over to the city’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, which is the lead police agency handling the surrender cases.

Once the procedure is completed, Pico said the convicts will be allowed to return home temporarily, although they will be required to make a promise to cooperate with local authorities once it is time for them to be transported to their respective correctional facilities to serve the remainder of their prison sentences.