A lawyer and blogger criticized Senator Panfilo Lacson for pointing his finger to his own colleague Senator Ronald Dela Rosa over the release of around 120 convicts during his time as the Bureau of Corrections Chief (BOC) in 2018.
In a lengthy post, Atty. Bruce Rivera told Lacson that he should look at the mirror first and think that if he’s one of the senators who voted in favor of the RA 10592 or Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law many years ago.
Rivera explained that the law they passed made the Revised Penal Code (RPC) confusing.
The lawyer believed that the senators during the time when the RA 10592 is still on its way from being a law didn’t read the bill very well because they’re busy during the impeachment of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.
“Bakit si Sen. Bato ang inuna mo? Bakit hindi mo ituro ang sarili mo na bumoto na maipasa ang RA 10592? Ang House Bill ay napakasimple. Art. 29 ng RPC lang ang binago. Dinagdagan niyo ng provisions na Art. 94, 97, 98 at 99 sa RPC na hindi naman kasama sa Art. 29. Any first year law student will tell you that. Kaya nagulo,” Rivera said.
“At dahil impeachment ni Corona, nawala sa isip niyo basahin ang batas kasi busy kayo papano magpasiklab sa proceedings. Wait. So, walang aamin na nakaligtaan ninyo basahin ang batas kaya naipasa at naging batas,” he added.
According to Rivera, even the best man possible to lead the Bureau of Correction cannot do anything to counter the RA 10592 because RA 10592 really gave a generous amount of deduction for the sentences of convicts.
“Kahit pa si Jesus ang gawin niyong BuCor, sa batas na ginawa ninyo, makakalabas si Barabas pati na si Satanas sa pagcompute ng good conduct. Kaya sana, before ka magturo at magpa-Herodes na hugas kamay,” Rivera said.
“Kung kasama ka sa bumoto para maipasa ang RA 10592, yung pointing finger mo, i-dip mo muna sa sauce of accountability para malaman mo ang totoong kalalagyan ng daliri mo,” he added.
As of writing, the post of Rivera already reached 3.4k shares on social media.
Lacson is one of the lawmakers who are investigating the RA 10592 since the news about the possible release of former Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez circulated.
The Senator also pushing to repeal the said law to prevent another mess on the GCTA.
On Wednesday, Lacson said that Bato may be held liable for the GCTA mess.
“Kung merong violation sa point of view nung hindi nasunod ‘yung department order, na kailangan may prior approval ng Secretary of Justice, hindi maitatatwa na may dapat ding panagutan or ipaliwanag si Senator Bato,” Lacson said in a radio interview