Bicol Saro Partylist Representative Brian Raymund Yamsuan has called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to consider giving priority to the elderly, sick and persons with disabilities (PWDs) in recommending the grant of executive clemency to prisoners this Christmas season.
Yamsuan issued the call as he expressed support for the jail decongestion initiative of DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla to release about 1,500 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) by recommending to the President that they be granted executive clemency.
The qualified PDLs were recommended for clemency by the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP), an agency under the DOJ.
Yamsuan also lauded the DOJ’S Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) under Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. for facilitating the release of more than 11,000 PDLs since the start of the administration of Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., as part of the government’s jail decongestion program.
“We urge the DOJ and the BPP to consider giving priority to elderly, frail PDLs and those suffering from critical illnesses and disabilities in recommending the grant of executive clemency to President Marcos,” Yamsuan said.
“And we are hopeful that the President would act on these recommendations for humanitarian reasons. Christmas is a time for mercy and compassion. It is also a time that should be spent with one’s family. PDLs who are old, disabled, or in poor health should be given the chance to spend time with their loved ones,” he added.
Under the revised rules and regulations of the BPP, executive clemency refers to “reprieve, absolute pardon, conditional pardon with or without parole conditions and commutation of sentence as may be granted by the President of the Philippines.”
Yamsuan said he is optimistic that the BPP would give priority to elderly, sick and frail PDLs following its recent issuance of Board Resolution OT-08-02-2023.
According to DOJ Undersecretary Jesse Hermogenes Andres, the resolution states that “PDLs who are 70 years old and, even if they are considered high-risk, if they have already served 10 years of their sentence, shall now be considered for executive clemency specially if they are suffering from old age, being sickly, or terminal or life threatening illnesses or other serious disability.”
This means that more elderly, critically ill PDLs could be recommended for executive clemency because the period of the mandatory minimum sentence service has been lowered to 10 years from the previous 15 years, Yamsuan noted.
As for the other PDLs qualified for release either through pardon, parole, or having served their maximum sentence, Yamsuan said they should be given the proper training and assistance so that they can start to rebuild their lives and become productive individuals.
Yamsuan said he is glad to learn that freed PDLs have undergone BuCor’s Reformation and Release Program, where they were given skills training by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
Providing appropriate interventions to PDLs to prevent them from becoming repeat offenders is another strategy to help decongest the country’s overpopulated penal and detention facilities, Yamsuan said.
The post Yamsuan urges DOJ to include elderly, PWDs in recommending grant of executive clemency appeared first on Police Files! Tonite.
Source: Police Files Tonite
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