DOJ: 161 surrendered convicts set for re-release

MANILA - One hundred and sixty-one convicts who were freed early for good conduct but had surrendered due to an order from President Rodrigo Duterte are set to be re-released, the Department of Justice said Tuesday.

"These were PDLs (persons deprived of liberty) who surrendered but who should not have surrendered because they were not excluded from the benefits of the good conduct time allowance law," said DOJ Undersecretary Markk Perete.

• 52 convicts released again following surrender under Duterte ultimatum, DOJ confirms

On ANC's Headstart, Perete said that the 161 convicts were identified for release from the over 800 cases that lawyers from the DOJ have already worked on.

"The others we need to take a second look at their cases because others would have incomplete records," he said.

More than 2,100 convicts surrendered in September after the President Rodrigo Duterte issued a 15-day ultimatum for heinous crime convicts released early on good conduct to turn themselves in.

• Duterte orders freed heinous crime convicts under GCTA law to surrender

"During the ultimatum given by the President, a number of individuals really surrendered despite the fact that they knew that they should not have surrendered,” he said.

He said they surrendered because they wanted security or some assurance from the Bureau of Corrections that they would not be rearrested.