POLICE will re-arrest without a warrant more than 1,000 felons who were illegally released for good conduct if they fail to surrender by Sept. 19, according to the Justice department.

The prisoners, who were convicted of various heinous crimes, are effectively evading sentence, Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra said at a briefing yesterday.

“Each minute, each hour, each day that you refuse to turn yourselves in is a commission — it’s a continuing commission of an offense,” he said. “And for that reason law enforcement agencies may arrest you without a warrant.”

Mr. Guevarra issued the statement during the signing of the revised rules implementing the law on the early release of inmates for good conduct. The law disqualifies convicts of heinous crimes from early release, but the prisoners were freed in the absence of a counterpart provision in the old implementing rules.

Under the new rules, all recidivists, escapees, habitual delinquents and convicts of heinous crimes are excluded from the program. Heinous crimes include murder, rape, destructive arson, parricide, kidnapping and serious illegal detention, and violations of certain provisions of the Dangerous Drugs Act.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte fired Bureau of Corrections chief Nicanor E. Faeldon after he allowed the illegal release of the felons. The president also ordered an investigation of prison officials by the Ombudsman for corruption.

The Ombudsman has ordered the suspension of about 30 jail officials in connection with the botched release of ineligible prisoners.

Mr. Faeldon headed the Bureau of Customs but was forced to resign at the height of a controversy involving the shipment of billions of pesos worth of crystal meth from China. He was reappointed to the Office of Civil Defense before heading the BuCor in 2018.

Opposition Senator Franklin M. Drilon earlier said Mr. Faeldon was not only incompetent but also lied under oath to evade accountability for the planned early release of ex-Calauan Mayor Antonio L. Sanchez.

The release of the former politician, who was sentenced to seven life terms in 1995 for the rape and murder of two University of the Philippines students in 1993, was suspended after a public outcry and a Senate investigation of the plan.

Mr. Guevarra has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to probe the reported sale of hospital passes to inmates at the Bureau of Corrections.

The Justice chief had also ordered a separate probe of corruption at the bureau after reports that parole grants have become for sale.

During a Senate hearing early this month, a witness accused some prison officials of promising families of convicts to release them earlier for a fee. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

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