PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte should issue an order allowing the Justice department to overrule decisions of the Bureau of Corrections, an opposition senator said yesterday.

The president should delegate his control over the prison agency to the Justice secretary after an unpopular decision to free former Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez, a convicted rapist and murderer, Senator Franklin M. Drilon told reporters.

The Senate will investigate the bureau’s enforcement of the law on parole and its earlier plan to release the former politician for good conduct.

Mr. Sanchez was sentenced to seven life terms in 1995 for the rape and murder of two University of the Philippine students in 1993.

“The focus of the investigation, if I may suggest, should be on how the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law is being implemented,” Mr. Drilon said. “Is it implemented properly, or do we have a basis to say that there is corruption?”

Senator Richard J. Gordon, whose justice committee will conduct the probe, said he had filed a bill to computerize prison records for a more accurate computation of remaining service time.

He said Mr. Sanchez was unqualified for parole give his bad record while in jail. Mr. Sanchez violated several prison rules including smuggling illegal drugs and receiving luxuries such as a flat screen TV and air conditioning in his cell, Mr. Gordon said in the bill’s explanatory note. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

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