For showing good conduct, 2 Agusan Sur inmates walk free

Tatay Bals (L) and Pareng Ben pose outside the gate of the Agusan del Sur Provincial Correctional and Security Management Office after they were released by virtue of the Good Conduct Time Allowance. MindaNews photo courtesy of Mary Ann Gresola / PCSMO information officer

SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur (MindaNews / 08 Aug) – Exactly after four years and 343 days of serving his six-year jail sentence at the Agusan del Sur Provincial Jail, 68-year-old Tatay Bals was set free as a beneficiary of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA).

The same fate was also shared by Pareng Ben, 42, whose four-year jail term was cut short by four months and 28 days.

On the fateful day of July 21, Tatay Bals and Pareng Ben (not their real names to protect their identities) walked their way to freedom and went home to reunite with  their respective families.

Republic Act 10592, which created the GCTA law, shortens jail time sentences of inmates or persons deprived of liberty(PDL) who showed good conduct inside the detention center.

The Management, Screening and Evaluation Committee (MSEC) of the Provincial Correctional and Security Management Office (PCSMO) evaluates the behavior of PDLs and recommends the grant of GCTAs.

Tatay Bals was a jail trustee who regularly cleaned the jail premises, a guitarist during holy mass at the chapel jail, and at times delivered sermons during worship.

“He was also active in almost all activities of the jail, including rice production at the rice field in the provincial capitol,” said Mary Ann Gresola, PCSMO information officer.

Gresola, a jail nurse, said a trustee “is a PDL trusted by the jail management to initiate any activity that will help the development of the jail as part of the PDLs reformation program.”

For his part, Pareng Ben, a tailor, made scrub suits and facemasks for health frontliners at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also attended to the needs of sick PDLs and helped maintain peace and order in their cells.

Tatay Bals and Pareng Ben, whose violations were not disclosed, were among the seven PDLs granted with GCTA.

The MSEC deliberated the behavior of least 24 PDLs. 

One had fully served his sentence, nine were transferred to the Davao Penal Colony and seven were still awaiting assessment results, records showed.

The PCSMO is still reviewing the records of other PDLs for possible granting of GCTA.

The GCTA initiative will continue as it is one of the successful strategies to decongest detention facilities and an opportunity for PDLs to start fresh lives outside the jail, Gresola said. (Chris Panganiban / MindaNews)