Independence Day

MANILA, Philippines—A total of 229 prisoners from all over the country were released Friday, after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo granted them executive clemency on Independence Day, Bureau of Corrections Director Oscar Calderon said.

Neither Malacañang nor the corrections bureau released the list of the pardoned prisoners. Persida Acosta, chief of the Public Attorney’s Office, also refused to release the list.

“The list is confidential because releasing it to newspapers might traumatize the convicts,” Acosta said. She said no high-profile personality was among the pardoned prisoners.

The 162 convicts from National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City and 67 from seven penal colonies all over the country were part of the list of over 800 qualified prisoners prepared by the PAO and the Bureau of Pardons and Parole and submitted to Ms Arroyo for approval two weeks ago.

Calderon said the appeals for pardon of the 40 percent on the list were disapproved after the reassessment of their records. One of them was the quadriplegic Ronald Quesada who was convicted of rape and has been in prison for six years.

Acosta said Quesada, who was supposed to qualify for pardon, failed to complete all the requirements.

Fetched by their relatives immediately after the gift-giving sponsored by Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the released prisoners were mostly elderly aged 70 or older and have served at least 10 years of their sentence and were handicapped and sickly.

“But essentially, our basic requirement is a record of good behavior,” Calderon said.

He said TESDA and DSWD promised to provide financial and livelihood assistance to the ex-convicts so they could start new lives.

The release, he said, would help decongest the overcrowded NBP which normally can accommodate an average of 2,000 new prisoners yearly.

“That is why the Bureau always helps in the speedy processing of the appeal for clemency,” he said.