Drug lord Peter Co and nine other high-profile Filipino and Chinese convicts had been transferred to the custody of the Philippine Marines last June 12 after the Bureau of Corrections”•headed by ex-Marine Nicanor Faeldon”•signed an agreement with them.
In an ABS-CBN News report, Capt. Felix Serapio Jr., director of the Marine Corps Public Affairs Office, said Thursday the 10 convicts were transferred nearly three months ago from BuCor custody to the detention facility at Marines Barracks Rudiardo Brown in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.
The bureau under the watch of Faeldon, who was fired by President Rodrigo Duterte Wednesday night, signed the memorandum with the Marines for
the transfer, but Serapio did not say why it happened and how the convicts were chosen.
The Marines confirmed the transfer amid the controversy over the early release of heinous crime convicts, including rapists, murderers and drug offenders, under the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law, ABS-CBN reported.
Co had been tagged by the President as one of the top suppliers of the illegal drug shabu in the country. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City in 2001.
Others transferred with Co were Vicente Sy, Hanz Tan, Jose Chua, Froilan Trestiza, Jojo Baligad, Allan Sinugat, Nonito Arile, Joel Capones and Rico Caja, ABS-CBN said.
The BuCor was still in charge of securing the convicts, with the Marines “• where Faeldon was once a captain “• as support group, Serapio said.
BuCor data earlier showed nearly 2,000 heinous crime convicts have been released since 2013 through the GCTA, which grants freedom to prisoners based on their good behavior.
This led to public outcry and official scrutiny of the GCTA Law, especially after convicted rapist-killer Antonio Sanchez, former mayor of Calauan, Laguna, was nearly released under the law.
Three convicts of the murder of the Chiong sisters of Cebu, however, had already been released.