A total of 784 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) had been released since June 11, 2024 from the prison facilities of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).
BuCor said that of those freed, 468 had expired sentences; 165 acquitted; 122 paroled; 24 granted probation; and five given executive clemency.
It said the recent releases brought to 15,143, the total number of PDLs freed since the start of the administration of President Marcos.
Meanwhile, Department of Justice (DOJ) Undersecretary Deo L. Marco assured on Friday, July 19, that the government will continue to look after the welfare of the PDLs.
“Kung maganda ang pagtrato sa PDL, maganda ang isang bayan, maganda ang administrasyon (The good treatment of PDLs shows that the country and its administration is good),” said Marco during the culminating activity for the release of inmates held at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.
Marco, who supervises BuCor for the DOJ, pointed out this has been advocacy of late South African President Nelson Mandela who got incarcerated for 27 years and whose July 18 birthday has been declared by the United Nations (UN) as Nelson Mandela Day.
“Ang pinakaimportanteng sinabi n’ya (The most important thing Nelson Mandela said) a nation should not be judged on how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones,” stated the undersecretary who explained that the late African leader was referring to prisoners.
BuCor Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. said the bureau has been implementing for some years the Nelson Mandela Rules, also known as the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
Catapang told the released PDLs: “We are really indebted to Nelson Mandela. If not for this person, who became the President of South Africa, we will not be guided on how to treat you properly with human rights, with your dignity intact even if you are serving your sentences."