Rappler's latest stories on Good Conduct Time Allowance Law
Ombudsman sacks 3 BuCor officials over 'GCTA for sale' scheme
Ramoncito Roque, Maria Belinda Bansil, and Veronica Buño are perpetually disqualified from holding public office
DOJ on aggrieved Bilibid returnees: They can sue us
'By their own acts, naipit sila sa loob,' says Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra
1,525 returnees to spend Christmas in prison 3 months after GCTA controversy
Only 827 out of the 2,352 returnees have been released after reprocessing, the Department of Justice confirms
Bilibid returnees die in Duterte administration blunders
Part 1: Massive errors in record-keeping and ill-prepared facilities keep thousands in jail for months, and kill at least 4 convict returnees. They regret heeding the President's call.
BuCor’s 3rd highest official resigns amid GCTA mess
Melvin Ramon Buenafe once held high hopes to become Bureau of Corrections chief after he was endorsed by PMA classmate and now Senator Ronald dela Rosa
LIVE: House hearing on amendments to GCTA law
Watch the hearing live on Rappler
Supreme Court orders DOJ to answer case vs GCTA IRR
Bilibid inmates want to nullify DOJ's new Implementing Rules and Regulations for violating equal protection
From 1,914 to 19: PNP resumes hunt vs GCTA-freed convicts
The Philippine National Police resumes its Tokhang-style hunt for convicts freed through the controversial Good Conduct Time Allowance law
DOJ 'confident' that Supreme Court will affirm revised GCTA IRR
The new IRR has different treatments for heinous crime convicts before 2013 and those after 2013. Is that a violation of equal protection?
Bilibid inmates file 1st Supreme Court case vs new GCTA IRR
(UPDATED) The petitioners argue the DOJ's new internal rules amount to executive legislation and violate equal protection
Newsbreak Chats: How gov't is handling the GCTA, BuCor mess
On Thursday, September 26, the Newsbreak team sits down to discuss whether government is on the right track and what else it can do to full-proof the implementation of the GCTA law
Guevarra: DOJ survived GCTA crisis by upholding rule of law
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra makes the statement amid mounting criticism on the DOJ's move to arrest without warrant heinous crime convicts
Guevarra: Surrender of qualified convicts 'phenomenal'
Around 25 convicts who surrendered will be freed Thursday after verification they are qualified for release
DOJ scrambling to release qualified convicts 'who should not have surrendered'
The Department of Justice says it will give second priority to convicts who were either acquitted or granted parole
New IRR could risk GCTA of qualified convicts
'That is the burden that the implementors of the law would have to assume,' says Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete
Qualified convicts surrender, won't leave Bilibid without clearance
'They are asking for a certification from the BuCor that they will no longer be the subject of rearrest,' says Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete
Confusion abounds as DOJ rushes final arrest list of convicts
The Department of Justice is counting on the promise of the Philippine National Police that it will carry out the rearrests peacefully
DOJ suspends rearrest of convicts, but cops already picked up a few
Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete announces on the radio early Friday morning that the rearrest should be suspended, but cops already started rearresting at midnight
With Duterte’s blessing, cops hunt convicts with defective arrest list
Without warrants, police commence their hunt for convicts freed through the GCTA with a rushed and unchecked list from the Bureau of Corrections
Prepare for Tokhang: Cops begin hunting convicts
Reminiscent of the controversial Oplan Tokhang, cops will go to the addresses of the remaining hundreds of GCTA-freed heinous crime convicts, knock on their doors, and arrest them
Ombudsman Martires: Convicts can be rearrested without warrant
The Ombudsman agrees with the position of the Duterte government – contrary to various legal opinions that a rearrest must have a court order
DOJ 'sanitizes' faulty GCTA arrest list ahead of manhunt
'We have to weed them out so that they won't be included in that list on the so-called fugitives from justice,' says Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra
BuCor officer turns around, admits texting 'GCTA for sale' witness
Senator Richard Gordon urges suspended Bureau of Corrections officer Veronica Buño to cooperate with the Senate probe into the GCTA for sale scheme
Even dead men listed in BuCor’s GCTA arrest list
Metro Manila cops find two men already dead for years in the arrest list they received from the Bureau of Corrections
PH gears for manhunt of over 900 heinous crime convicts
Duterte is offering P1 million in exchange for the heads of heinous crime convicts 'dead or alive.' His men are quick to clarify that the President does not mean it literally.
Chiong murder convicts Uy, Aznar surrender in Bilibid
Two other convicts in the infamous murder case – Alberto Caño and Ariel Balansag – have already surrendered
Guevarra: Faeldon 'quite likely' administratively liable for GCTA mess
But Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra shies away from making the same statement on Senator Ronald dela Rosa
Roxas to Martires: 'Unquestionably unfounded' to say IRR strayed from GCTA law
Ex-DILG secretary Mar Roxas reiterates that the IRR he had signed in 2014 'faithfully reflects' provisions of the GCTA law
GCTA author wants convicts in prison drug trade ineligible for early release
Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez says his proposed amendment would help ensure heinous crime convicts would not benefit from the GCTA law, which he co-authored
DOJ's new IRR of GCTA Law 'open to serious legal challenge'
'They are pandering to public opinion; do things the right way otherwise that is abuse,' says human rights lawyer Edre Olalia
Duterte wants to speed up release of elderly, sick prisoners under GCTA law
The President believes elderly or sick prisoners would not pose much of a threat if they are granted early freedom
De Lima, Roxas signed IRR 'in good faith' – GCTA law author Rodriguez
Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Representative Rufus Rodriguez believes the two former Cabinet officials should not be held liable for the GCTA mess
FAST FACTS: What is inside the revised 2019 IRR of the GCTA Law
The new IRR says heinous crime convicts after the law became effective in 2013 shall not be entitled to any type of good conduct time allowance
De Lima says she doesn't have to explain GCTA IRR
'I could not comprehend how my personal view on the matter can shed light on the query,' Senator Leila de Lima tells Ombudsman Samuel Martires, noting that the IRR published when she was DOJ chief was an 'institutional output'
Only court can stop police rearrest of convicts released under GCTA- PNP official
"We always take cue from the Department of Justice," says Police Lieutenant General Archie Francisco Gamboa
BuCor to resume releasing qualified GCTA inmates
But only prisoners who are not charged with heinous crimes and whose records are squeaky clean can be released now
Robredo urges senators to focus on corruption issues in GCTA probe
'Dapat ang tanong: Ano ba iyong dahilan kung bakit nagkaloko-loko iyong application ng GCTA? Is it because of the law o dahil ba ito sa implementation ng law?' says Vice President Leni Robredo
[EDITORIAL] BuCor Senate hearings: Bakit pinalusot si Bato at Faeldon?
The GCTA law is a complicated mess. BuCor is neck-high in corruption allegations. We can do without the politicking and vendetta, Senators.
Rappler Talk: Rufus Rodriguez on amending the GCTA law
Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District Representative Rufus Rodriguez discusses how to improve the GCTA law he had co-written
Over 500 GCTA-freed convicts back in jail
The update comes 9 days after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered prisoners released through the controversial GCTA law to surrender or be hunted down by cops
De Lima hits Gordon insinuation that GCTA used to raise campaign funds
Senator Leila de Lima says she takes 'serious offense' at Senator Richard Gordon's allegations without even substantiating it with evidence
De Lima: Gordon 'steered away' from Dela Rosa, Faeldon in GCTA hearing
Senator Richard Gordon speculates that detained Senator Leila de Lima had a hand in the crafting of the 'confusing' IRR of the GCTA law
Senate detains 3 BuCor officials after 'lying' in GCTA probe
(4th UPDATE) Bilibid hospital doctor Ursicio Cenas, BuCor legal chief Fredric Santos, and BuCor documents chief Ramoncito Roque are cited for contempt by Senators
Warrants needed to rearrest freed convicts – GCTA law author
Cagayan de Oro congressman Rufus Rodriguez, one of the principal authors of the GCTA law, says the courts must issue warrants for the arrest of the convicts released
'Palpak!' Ill-prepared BuCor list wrongly grants GCTA to Janet Napoles
'Lalo lumalaki ang sunog, lalo nawawala ang tiwala ng tao sa gobyerno dahil balasubas pagkakagawa niyo,' Senator Richard Gordon castigates the Bureau of Corrections
BuCor’s GCTA arrest list ‘unchecked, rushed’
'Yung list na 'yan, mabilisan pong pinagawa sa amin,' says suspended Bureau of Corrections documentations chief Ramoncito Roque
IN NUMBERS: The freed 1,914 heinous crime convicts
Rappler obtains and analyzes the list of 1,914 heinous crime convicts the Duterte government says were released because of the GCTA law. This is what we found.
Ombudsman’s GCTA probe covers ex-BuCor chiefs Faeldon, Dela Rosa
Deputy Minority Leader Carlos Zarate extracts the confirmation from the Office of the Ombudsman as it defended its proposed 2020 budget in the House plenary
Duterte says Faeldon headed to private sector
The President has said he still believes in Nicanor Faeldon, despite many controversies he was embroiled in
