BuCor releases 784 PDLs on Nelson Mandela Day

In celebration of the Nelson Mandela International Day, the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) on Friday released a total of 784 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) from various prisons and penal farms nationwide.

According to BuCor, this brings the total number of released PDLs to 15,143 under the Marcos administration.

Of the released PDLs, 486 served their maximum sentences, 165 were acquitted, 122 were given parole, 24 were granted probation, and five were granted executive clemency.  

“It all boils down to leadership. Even if you are incarcerated, you have that strength to forgive and forget and to move on and to lead your country to greater heights,” BuCor chief Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said in his speech, referencing Mandela’s story.

Nelson Mandela was the former president of South Africa who spent 27 years in prison for opposing South Africa’s apartheid system.

The Nelson Mandela Rules or the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which represents the acknowledged blueprint for prison management in the 21st century, was named after him.

“If not for this person who became 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,” Catapang said.

Also present during the event were South Africa Ambassador Bartinah Ntombizodwa Radebe-Netshitenzhe, Australian Second Secretary and Consul Bindy Moore, Public Attorneys Office chief Persida Acosta, Justice Undersecretary Deo Marco, and Justice spokesperson Mico Clavano, among others.

In her speech, Radebe-Netshitenzhe stressed that it is important for former PDLs to move on. She said she also spent two years in prison as she was a freedom fighter in a “very hostile environment.”

“I have been a detainee, but I stand here today as an ambassador. It shows you that you can move on, if you have a positive mind, just as Nelson Mandela. Twenty-seven years in prison to have gone to become the first democratically-elected head of state and the President of South Africa,” she said.

Radebe-Netshitenzhe was given a token of appreciation during the event.

Meanwhile, Justice Undersecretary Jesse Andres said the congestion rate in prisons and penal farms has decreased to 240%.

“Sa ginawa po naming reporma, nireview po namin ang mga prison records ng ating mga PDLs at napakarami na po nating na-release dahil sila po ay nakulong mahigit pa sa dapat na sentensya nila,” Andres said in a separate interview on PTV.

(We reviewed the prison records of PDLs as part of our reform and discovered that many of them should have been released since they spent more time in prison than what was provided in their sentences.)

From July 2022 to May 2024, a total of 3,474 PDLs were granted parole, and 1,684 were given executive clemency.

“Hindi pa po solved ang problema, pero ho hindi na ho lumalala ang problema (the problem isn't solved yet, but it’s no longer worsening),” Andres said. — RSJ/VBL, GMA Integrated News