Grant parole to qualified prisoners, GMA urged

Opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. has urged President Arroyo to pardon or grant parole to qualified convicts who have served the required portion of their sentences and shown good behavior while in prison.

Pimentel made the appeal as he expressed dismay at the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP) for not having forwarded to Malacañang the list of prisoners who are qualified for executive clemency.

"Traditionally, the President grants pardon or parole to a big batch of qualified prisoners during Christmas. The deserving prisoners have been looking forward to the day they will get out of jail and start a new life. It would be unfair and inhuman to deny them this right," he said in a statement.

Pimentel visited the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa City last Monday to distribute goods to some inmates and see the conditions in the prison.

Pimentel also assured inmates on death row that the Senate committee on justice has reported out the bill seeking to repeal the death penalty law. The bill will be up for plenary deliberation.

As principal author of the bill, Pimentel said he has gained the support of several members of Congress. He said capital punishment "is inhuman, un-Christian, constitutionally impermissible and ineffective in deterring criminality."

"The death penalty does not conform to the principles of modern penology, which give convicted prisoners the opportunity to reform themselves and become productive members of society anew," Pimentel said.

He made the appeal after Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo said the Office of the President has not yet received any BPP endorsement for the grant of parole to infamous convicts.

Two high-profile inmates at the New Bilibid Prisons, however, were recommended for executive clemency by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

Ambet Antonio, who is serving a 14-year sentence for the murder of former basketball star Arnulfo Tuadles at the Club 419 in Greenhills, San Juan on Nov. 2, 1996, has been recommended for conditional pardon.

Norberto Manero, convicted for the murder of Italian priest Father Tullio Favali in North Cotabato, was again recommended for release.

The controversial priest killer had already been granted executive clemency by deposed President Joseph Estrada in 1999 but public uproar over the decision prompted Estrada to recall the order.

Two other celebrity convicts — Rolito Go and former Calauan, Laguna mayor Antonio Sanchez — have also appealed for parole this year. However, their names were not on the list endorsed by BuCor to the Palace.

Go is behind bars for killing La Salle engineering graduate Eldon Maguan over a traffic altercation on Nov. 1, 1991 while Sanchez was convicted for the rape and murder of UP Los Baños coed Eileen Sarmenta and her friend Allan Gomez in June 1991.

Romulo, however, assured jail convicts that the grant of executive clemency will still push through this year and recommendations are now being processed by the Office of the Executive Secretary, which conducts the review of individual cases.