The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has supported the appeal of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) for the Office of the President (OP) to grant executive clemency to 301 elderly and ailing persons deprived of liberty (PDLs).

"At a time when Philippine detention facilities and prisons face congestion problems, keeping elderly and other PDLs with comorbidities in congested spaces increases their likelihood of acquiring diseases that may either shorten their life or cause their death," CHR Executive Director Jacqueline Ann de Guia said in a statement.

"To put vulnerable PDLs in situations that pose great peril to their health is tantamount to cruel and inhumane treatment," De Guia stressed.

The 301 PDLs have already undergone the processes and passed the legal standards to qualify for executive clemency, PAO had earlier said.

Thus, De Guia said that their release is overdue since their release had been previously recommended during the past administration.

Aside from humanitarian considerations, the CHR said that granting executive clemency to qualified PDLs would also benefit the country's current efforts on decongestion of jail facilities.

"CHR also takes this opportunity to commend the efforts of PAO to continue assessing around 3,000 cases of PDLs that have been returned by OP for further scrutiny as this manifests commitment to the restorative penal system," De Guia said.

"We also thank the collective efforts of the Department of Justice, PAO, and the Bureau of Corrections for the recent release of 371 inmates and we hope that current decongestion efforts will be sustained," she added.

The CHR, for its part, will continue to help improve the condition in jails and other detention facilities in line with its mandate to conduct jail visits and through its role as the country’s interim National Preventive Mechanism.

"A genuine restorative justice system necessitates the equal application of due process for all persons in detention in keeping with human rights standards," De Guia added.