Treating elderly inmates right

At 85, Gerardo Dela Peña is the oldest political prisoner out of some 800 others at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP). In a press briefing at the House last week, Dela Peña’s relatives sought Congress’ help to reunite him soon with his ailing 81-year-old wife.

Dela Peña was arrested in March 2013 for allegedly shooting his nephew in 2001, and was convicted of murder in 2014 by a Camarines Norte regional trial court that sentenced him to a 20- to 40-year prison term. Witnesses claimed that Dela Peña, who headed the Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto and was a member of the rights group Karapatan before his arrest, was a member of the outlawed New Peoples’ Army. He has denied this and maintains that he was “wrongfully convicted” and was merely a “scapegoat.”

According to Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim, as of May 2, Dela Peña has already served 12 years and 30 days of his 12 years commuted sentence issued on March 11 by the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP). This, on top of the time credits he has accrued under the good conduct time allowance. Dela Peña qualifies for release as well under BPP Resolution No. OT-08-02-2023 which states that persons deprived of liberty aged 70 and older, who have already served a minimum 10-year sentence, are eligible for executive clemency (EC).

Executive clemency

Why the “conflicting signals” on the case? Lim asked. Last month, the justice department informed the group that Dela Peña’s petition for clemency had been approved by the BPP and was pending approval with the Office of the President through the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs.

Meanwhile news reports quoted Justice Undersecretary Jesse Andres as saying that the BPP resolution on elderly inmates had already benefited two PDLs, with Dela Peña’s name “specifically mentioned,” Lim said. In her January visit, however, he showed her a BPP list dated December 2023 that said he was “denied EC.” Neither was he among the 22 PDLs granted EC by President Marcos in March this year.

Rights groups have been clamoring for Dela Peña’s release since 2019 on humanitarian grounds because of his advanced age and declining health that has been aggravated by “subhuman conditions” at the NBP, Lim said. He was coughing blood and was overdue for a cataract operation, she added.

In 2021, two political prisoners succumbed to illness inside NBP: Jesus Alegre, 75, who died of cardiac arrest on June 13, 2021, and Antonio Molina, 67, who had stomach cancer. Will government neglect and indifference make Dela Peña the next casualty?, Lim asked.

‘Moneyed and powerful people’

Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan, lamented how differently the country’s laws have been applied in Dela Peña’s case and those of the two deceased political prisoners, in contrast to how “moneyed and powerful people” like former Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile and former first lady Imelda Marcos were allowed to skip jail for “humanitarian reasons.”

Enrile, President Marcos’ chief legal counsel, is facing plunder charges before the Sandiganbayan for allegedly receiving kickbacks from pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim Napoles, in exchange for diverting his development funds allocation to her bogus foundations. Mrs. Marcos, the President’s mother, was convicted by the Sandiganbayan of seven counts of graft in 2018 for transferring funds into Swiss accounts when she was still occupying several government posts during Marcos Sr.’s term.

Despite plunder usually being a nonbailable case, the Supreme Court in 2015 allowed Enrile to post bail, citing his “advanced age and for health reasons.” The anti-graft court said as much when it granted Mrs. Marcos bail.

Humiliating strip search

How could “humanitarian grounds” have vastly divergent interpretations in the case of these politically influential individuals and that of Dela Peña?, the rights groups have asked. Lim pointed out that while the Bureau of Corrections has released more than 7,000 PDLs since July last year to decongest jail facilities, “no political prisoner has been included … not even one.”

Such low regard for political prisoners is apparent in the humiliating strip search of their elderly wives during a visit in April, ostensibly because some visitors had smuggled in drugs and cigarettes in their body cavities. While no one should be above established protocols, prison officials should have distinguished political prisoners from ordinary felons arrested for common crimes. Would Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla have ordered an investigation and the relief of seven female prison officers had the women not filed a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights?

During the second session of the Summit for Democracy on March 30 last year, President Marcos highlighted the country’s judicial reforms and stressed that “real justice means the humane treatment of persons deprived of liberty.” Dela Peña’s case and the strip search incident should give him the opportunity to be true to his words.