Good conduct time allowance controversy
It begins with Bureau of Corrections Director General Nicanor Faeldon and several other government officials signing the document containing the release of former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez, the prime suspect in the rape and murder of Eileen Sarmenta and her friend Allan Gomez in 1993, and the release of Josman Aznar, Ariel Balansag, Alberto Caño and James Anthony Uy, the 4 suspects in the rape and murder of sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong in 1997, citing "good conduct."
Prior to the issue, questions were raised over how could he qualify for good conduct when he was caught of seizing various items inside the prison such as P1.5 million worth of methamphetamine (shabu) hidden in a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 2010 and an air-conditioning unit and flat-screen TV in 2015.
[8] Despite the outrage, BuCor Director General Nicanor Faeldon has changed tune and said Sanchez may be disqualified from the good conduct and time allowance (GCTA) rule based on several grounds.
[12] The Supreme Court of the Philippines (SC), in a statement by spokesperson Brian Hosaka, denied ordering the release of Sanchez when it ruled on the retroactive application of RA 10592.
[14] On August 26, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and Bureau of Corrections chief Nicanor Faeldon not to release convicted rapist-murderer Antonio Sanchez.
On September 2, 2019, The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee holds a joint probe into the supposed early release of rape and murder convict Former Mayor Antonio Sanchez and the controversial Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) Law.
[16] Bureau of Corrections chief Nicanor Faeldon confirms that George Medialdea, Rogelio Corcolon and Zoilo Ama, the three men who were convicted for the June 1993 rape and killing of Sarmenta and Gomez were already dead in jail.
[18] On September 3, 2019, The family of rape and murder convict and former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez showed up at the Senate for the resumption of the probe into the controversy surrounding the possible release of their patriarch.
[21] Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo has confirmed a meeting with the family of his former client, convicted rapist-killer Antonio Sanchez, in Malacañang earlier this year.
[25] Faeldon has confirmed the release of Josman Aznar, Ariel Balansag, Alberto Caño and James Anthony Uy, the four persons who were convicted for the 1997 murder of the Chiong sisters.
[28] On September 6, Ariel Balansag and Alberto Caño, the two of the three convicts of the Chiong sisters rape-slay case, who were released by virtue of the controversial Good Conduct Time Allowance Law, has been surrendered to the authorities.
[32] The GCTA would also play a role in a different case several years later, as lawyer Rowena Garcia-Flores filed an urgent motion to the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court Branch 74 in late August 2020, requesting the release of Joseph Scott Pemberton, a US Marine convicted in the homicide of Filipino national Jennifer Laude in 2014.
