DOJ: 612 freed convicts of heinous crimes back in BuCor custody

MANILA, Philippines — As President Rodrigo Duterte's deadline for their surrender nears, the number of freed convicts of heinous crimes that turned themselves in has reached 612, the Department of Justice said Monday.

In a message to reporters, Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete said that as of Monday morning, "612 prematurely released [Persons Deprived of Liberty] have surrendered and are in the custody of [Bureau of Corrections]."

Duterte set the deadline for the surrender of the 1,914 convicts of heinous crimes granted time allowances for good conduct on September 19.

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The president said the freed PDLs should make themselves available for recomputation of their GCTA and for investigation for corruption, or else they would be treated as fugitives.

“Or you will be treated as criminal for evading the law. Well, you know, things can go wrong,” Duterte warned on September 4.

PNP to deploy tracker teams, Special Action Force

The Philippine National Police tapped its Criminal Investigation and Detection Group to supervise the tracker teams in different police regional offices to locate the freed convicts.

Perete said that the Bureau of Immigration has verified records of 1,886 out of the 1,914 names of convicts of heinous crimes.

“Of the number verified, none appear in the BI records to have left the country,” the DOJ spokesperson said.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra has placed the 1,914 freed PDLs under the Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order.

Immigration agents are ordered to alert the authorities if the subject of the ILBO attempts to depart the country.