GOV'T PRESSED TO RELEASE PH'S 'OLDEST POLITICAL PRISONER'

A rights group pressed the government anew to free 85-year-old Gerardo Dela Peña, the 'oldest political prisoner' in the country.

 

“We ask President Marcos to promptly free him as he has freed many other PDLs (persons deprived of liberty) to decongest prison facilities. Tatay Gerry’s advanced age and declining health make his release not just a matter of justice, but also a humanitarian imperative," said Fides Lim, spokesperson of the support group for political prisoners, Kapatid.

On April 23, Dela Peña's birthday, the group trooped to Malacanang to hand their letters of appeal to Palace officials for the prompt release of Dela Peña, who Lim said "has already served exactly  12 years and 21 days of his prison term" as of his birthday.

This is based on the Board of Pardons and Parole’s computation from August 2023, along with the additional months elapsed since its report to the House Appropriations Committee last August, Lim said.

“No further obstacles should hinder his release following the recommendation of the BPP issued this March 11 for the commutation of his sentence to ‘a definite prison term of 12 years,’” she said.

“Moreover, Tatay Gerry has not only completed but overserved those 12 years since this calculation does not include the total good conduct time allowance (GCTA) he accrued. This makes him more than eligible for executive clemency through commutation of sentence, as recommended by the BPP,” she added.

Dela Peña was arrested in Vinzons, Camarines Norte on March 21, 2013 and was convicted at age 74. 

Lim said "time is not on the side of an 85-year-old man in a Philippine prison." She said when she visited him at the New Bilibid Prisons Minimum Compound in March, the elderly man looked frail after a bout of stomach flu. His eyesight has also begun to fail and he can hardly hear.

The Kapatid spokesperson pointed out that many prisoners are being granted freedom to decongest jails, and this should include political prisoners.

"No reason exists that Dela Peña should be left out just because he is a political prisoner, as that would be discriminatory and unjust," Lim said.

GMA News Online has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment and will post it as soon as available. —Jiselle Anne Casucian/LDF, GMA Integrated News

This article Gov't pressed to release PH's 'oldest political prisoner' was originally published in GMA News Online.

2024-04-24T20:11:38Z dg43tfdfdgfd