MANILA (UPDATE) - Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Monday signed the revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 10592.

Guevarra and Año sign revised implementing rules and regulations of RA 10592. pic.twitter.com/CCSMZ7DOVl

— Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) September 16, 2019

Guevarra said among the important revisions to the IRR is the clarification of prisoners who are disqualified by law from availing of good conduct time allowance (GCTA) and other time allowances.

"Malaki ang pagkakaiba nitong revised IRR na pinagtulungan namin ng DILG [Department of Interior and Local Government]. Unang-una, ginawa naming malinaw kung sino ang mga hindi kasama na makikinabang dito sa additional benefits na ibinibigay ng Republic Act No. 10592," Guevarra told DZMM.

(There is a big difference with revised IRR which we worked on together with the DILG. First, we clarified who among the prisoners will not be able to benefit from Republic Act No. 1059.)

"Maliwanag diyan na 'yung mga escapees, mga habitual delinquents, recidivists, at saka mga convicted sa heinous crimes ay hindi makakasama sa mga benepisyo na ibinigay niyang batas na 'yan," he added.

(It is clear that escapees, habitual delinquents, recidivists and heinous crime convicts will not benefit from that law.)

Guevarra, likewise, said the new IRR provides a clearer definition of what heinous crimes are.

"Dinefine na namin kung ano 'yung heinous crimes. Kasi wala niyan dati eh, sinasabi lang 'yung heinous crimes, pero ano ba 'yung heinous crimes? So naglagay na kami ng definition dito sa bagong IRR," he said.

(We defined what heinous crimes are. There was no definition in the previous version, they just mentioned what heinous crimes are so we provided a definition in the new IRR.)

The revised IRR will follow the list of heinous crimes punishable by death as provided by the country's death penalty law.

Guevarra clarified that they only used the law as basis for the definition of heinous crimes, since it was already repealed in 2006.

"Totoo, na-repeal 'yan noong 2006, pero only the imposition of the death penalty," he explained.

(Yes, it was repealed in 2006, but only the imposition of the death penalty was repealed.)

Guevarra also said that while good conduct of prisoners will be assessed monthly, the good conduct time allowance will only be granted on the 2nd, 5th, 10th and 11th year of the prisoners' detention so as to take into account the prisoners' general conduct.

Among impt provisions to IRR accdg to Guevarra: clarification of prisoners disqualified from law to avail themselves of GCTA and other time allowances; definition of heinous crimes; general guidelines for management screening and evaluation committee (MSEC)

— Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) September 16, 2019

The joint Department of Justice-Department of the Interior and Local Government Committee on the GCTA was also given another 60 days to finish its review and revision of the uniform policy and guidelines on the computation of credits and allowances under RA 10592.

JUST IN: DOJ Sec Guevarra and DILG Sec Año gives Joint DOJ-DILG Committee an extension of 60 days to complete review and revision of Uniform Policy and Guidelines to comply with 2019 Revised IRR of RA 10592. pic.twitter.com/RRZ5gEZsFC

— Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) September 16, 2019

The GCTA law has been under public criticism and official scrutiny after nearly 2,000 heinous-crime convicts were reported released since 2014.

Of this number, only more than 600 convicts have surrendered following President Rodrigo Duterte's 15-day deadline.- with a report from Mike Navallo, ABS-CBN News