Rappler's latest stories on allowances
With GCTA suspended, low-risk convicts stranded in BJMP facilities
This means that low-risk convicts, who are clearly convicted of non-heinous crimes, cannot avail of early freedoms even as the pandemic threatens Philippine jails
DOJ urged to fast-track GCTA releases amid coronavirus scare
A judge in Naga, which is a justice zone, sends a memorandum to his fellow judges to bring the issue to the attention of the Department of Justice
Naga judge grants GCTA to student convicted of rape by sexual assault
(UPDATED) Naga City Regional Trial Court Branch 61 Judge Soliman Santos, who had approved a plea bargain agreement between the convict and the victim, rules that rape by sexual assault is not a heinous crime
BuCor legal chief killing 'very likely' linked to GCTA mess – Guevarra
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to conduct a case buildup on the killing of prisons legal chief Fredric Santos
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
Bantag tries to slay Bilibid's old monsters, Duterte-style
Part 3: Gerald Bantag literally bulldozed his way to get rid of shanties inside Bilibid on his first week. Will it work in fixing congestion and criminality? We take an inside look.
Unqualified GCTA returnees lose jobs, are detained for months
Part 2: Even if many are not heinous crime convicts, former inmates turn themselves in to the Correctional Institution for Women out of fear of the President. Administrative lapses make them worry they won’t be home for Christmas.
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
Recto wants P10,000 chalk allowance for teachers
'If we are not asking our soldiers to buy their own bullets, then why should we be forcing our teachers to buy their own provisions in fighting illiteracy?' Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto says
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
In new IRR, heinous crime convicts after 2013 cannot avail of any GCTA
Those charged with heinous crimes and detained before 2013 can avail of the much lesser good conduct time allowance under the Revised Penal Code. Issues of equal protection and the ex-post facto law may come up.
[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
