President Rodrigo Duterte has blocked the release of convicted killer-rapist Antonio Sanchez, according to former presidential special assistant and Senator Christopher “Bong” Go.
Go made the announcement to reporters at the Heroes’ Cemetery in Taguig City during yesterday’s National Heroes’ Day event.
Sanchez’s name was floated early last week by Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) spokesman Sonny del Rosario as someone who was eligible for early release thanks to Republic Act No. 10592, also known as Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA), which deducts as many as 30 days from a prisoner’s term for every month served if they display good behavior during detention.
Read: Duterte spokesman says former client Sanchez ineligible for early release
Amid the resultant firestorm — Sanchez is, after all, guilty of the premeditated torture and murder of two 19 year olds — presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo announced Sanchez was ineligible to benefit from the law, because he committed a heinous crime.
Panelo quoted Section 1 of the act which said that “recidivists, habitual delinquents, escapees and persons charged with heinous crimes are excluded from the coverage of this Act.”
This was the same line echoed by Duterte, who instructed BuCor chief Nicanor Faeldon and Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to stop Sanchez’s early release.
“When the President learned about this, he told BuCor chief Faeldon and Secretary Guevarra not to release [Sanchez] upon the order of the higher authority (Duterte),” Go told reporters.
“The president is a lawyer. He studied the law. He (Sanchez) is excluded from Republic Act 10592. On Section 1, those who have committed heinous crimes are excluded.”
Of course, if “persons charged with heinous crimes are excluded,” you wouldn’t need the president to intervene, would you? In fact, it’s fair to assume that Sanchez never should have been up for parole at all give the heinous nature of his crimes if people were well known.
Here’s one more nutty question, why didn’t the Bureau of Corrections know Sanchez was ineligible?
Read: Wait, what? Corrections chief says killer ex-mayor Sanchez might not be freed soon after all
Go said the president instructed his men to stop the former Calauan mayor’s release on Wednesday night.
By Thursday afternoon, Faeldon told the media that it was unlikely for Sanchez to be freed because of several behavioral violations he committed in jail. This includes the 2010 incident in which a stash of methamphetamine worth PHP1.5 million was found hidden inside Sanchez’s Virgin Mary statue. Another violation Faeldon cited was Sanchez’s possession of a flat-screen TV and air conditioning unit discovered inside his cell in 2015.
However, Justice Secretary Guevarra said yesterday that the instruction he received from Malacañang Palace was to “hold the processing of Sanchez’s case until all the factual and legal issues have been fully threshed out,” reported CNN Philippines. It was last week when he said that the Department of Justice needs to determine if Sanchez stands to benefit from RA No. 10592.
Read: Ex-mayor behind torture, murder of two 19-year-olds may be released for ‘good behavior’
Sanchez is notorious in the Philippines for the 1993 killing of two University of the Philippines Los Baños students: Eileen Sarmenta and her boyfriend, Allan Gomez. The two teens were abducted by Sanchez’s men in Los Baños with the intent of presenting Eileen as a “gift” to the mayor. They were then brought to Sanchez’s home in Calauan, where Gomez was tortured.
Before ordering his aides to kill the victims, Sanchez raped Eileen, then presented her to his henchmen, who took turns raping her as well.
Sanchez was convicted in 1995 to seven life sentences but benefitted from the Revised Penal Code’s rule that limited the sentence to a maximum of 40 years.
It was on Tuesday last week when Justice Secretary Guevarra announced that Sanchez might be released soon due to good conduct, which drew swift condemnation from opposition politicians, feminist groups, and netizens. Apparently, the Philippines’ secretary of justice is among those who failed to read the law.
Coconuts Manila tried to get in touch with BuCor spokesman Del Rosario but his phone was unreachable.
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