Republic Act No. 10592 is seen as a testament to the belief that jails and prisons are meant to be places of reform and that good conduct should warrant a detained person’s release.

As laws are meant to be safeguards for justice, the challenge before the government, particularly the executive branch, is to ensure that only that only those who have exhibited good behaviour throughout the years benefit from good conduct time allowance system, including the case of former Calauan mayor Antonio Sanchez.

Every case must be examined, throughly reviewed, and that transparency of the entire process must be assured, including proper due notice to victims of crimes, especially that the good conduct allowances cannot be revoked once granted.

We must be wary of the haphazard application of this law. Releasing an underserving offender will only perpetuate injustice.

As such, we welcome statements coming from the government, particularly the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Corrections, committing careful scrutiny of cases that may qualify under the law and its retroactive application, as decided by the Supreme Court.

Equal protection of laws is surely a guaranteed right. But laws should always be reasonably applied to further justice and protect rights—not otherwise. ###