'Wala silang magaling na abugado': Marcos orders continued release of PDLs

MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has ordered the continued release of persons deprived of liberty (PDL) who are qualified of paroles, saying some of them need legal help, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Presidential Communications Office said this would help relieve the country's prisons.

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“Wala naman silang magaling na abugado. So that’s why we are in favor now to release many of them,” said Marcos.

To decongest prisons, the President also supports placing "hardened criminals" to separate facilities so any operations for their illegal activities will also be stopped.

Marcos also noted "rampant corruption" in the Bureau of Corrections. The statement did not elaborate.

Citing a report from the Department of Justice, Malacañang said nearly 3,000 PDLs were released between July and December last year. It is also eyeing to form facilities for those who committed heinous crimes in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

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Republic Act No. 11928, which lapsed into law on July 30 last year, will form secured and state-of-the-art facilities for convicts in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. These facilities will be equipped with surveillance cameras 24/7.

Locks, doors, and perimeters of the facilities will have "enhanced and extensive" security features, according to the measure.

• BuCor finalizing IRR on law establishing separate facility for heinous crime convicts

Among those expected to be transferred to the new heinous crime facilities are some 17,490 convicts currently detained at the maximum security compound of the New Bilibid Prisons, the Bureau of Corrections had said.

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