MANILA, Philippines – The release of former policeman Gerardo Biong, who was convicted for destroying evidence in the Vizconde massacre case, will be indefinitely postponed until the Supreme Court (SC) makes a ruling on his pending motion for reconsideration, the Bureau of Corrections (Bucor) said yesterday.
Despite a Department of Justice (DOJ) decision ordering Biong’s release from the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City, Bucor director general Ernesto Diokno said Biong will only be freed if he withdraws his motion for reconsideration or the court makes a ruling on his appeal.
“He is still under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. We will release him, anyway, should the SC decide to acquit him or uphold his conviction because he has served his sentence already,” Diokno told The STAR.
“But what if the Supreme Court suddenly decides to increase his penalty? Then all these will boomerang to us,” he added.
Biong, 50, was a former Parañaque policeman who was sentenced to imprisonment of 12 years for destroying the evidence in the murders of Estrellita, Carmela, and Jennifer Vizconde in 1991.
He was convicted in 2000 by then Judge Amelita Tolentino together with Hubert Webb, Hospicio “Pyke” Fernandez, and Antonio “Tony Boy” Lejano.
In a separate interview, Biong’s lawyer Jose Flaminiano said his client should be freed despite the SC review. Citing Article 29 of the Revised Penal Code, Flaminiano said Biong “is entitled to the full credit of his preventive detention without prejudice to the continuance of his appeal.”
The provision states: “Whenever an accused has undergone preventive imprisonment for a period equal to or more than the possible maximum imprisonment of the offense charged to which he may be sentenced and his case is not yet terminated, he shall be released immediately without prejudice to the continuation of the trial thereof or the proceeding on appeal, if the same is under review.”
‘Suspicious’
Lauro Vizconde said he was “surprised” to learn that Biong is now a free man because he was never informed about it. He added that the timing was “suspicious” because it came at a time when controversies are hounding the appeal of Webb’s case.
“Don’t you find it suspicious? I don’t want to speculate but I ask myself, why?” Lauro told The STAR.
The Vizconde case has been pending before the court for five years. It was scheduled to be promulgated last Nov. 23 but was postponed again for an indefinite period, pending the justices’ review.
The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption will file a petition for a temporary restraining order before the DOJ today to prevent Biong from walking out of NBP.
Flaminiano said his client’s release should not be politicized, even as he maintained that the DOJ decision was just “coincidental” to the SC review.
Biong’s “release was because of the operation of the law. It should not cause public outrage,” he said.