These convicts freed under the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law are among the 42 surrenders awaiting their transport to the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) facility in Abuyog, Leyte on Sept. 18, 2019. Not in the photo is Cesar Buhawe, 27, the subject of this article.| CDN Digital Photo / Alven Marie A. Timtim
CEBU CITY, Philippines — When 27-year-old Cesar Buhawe was given a parole last July 10, 2018, the first thing he wanted to do was marry his childhood sweetheart.
Buhawe returned to his hometown in Barangay Pandan, Bogo City, Cebu and six months later, in February this year, he finally took the love of his life to church and vowed to love her until death separates them.
But on September 18, 2019, barely seven months into his happy marriage life, Buhawe learned that he was included in the list of the ex-convicts who were released under the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) that were asked by President Rodrigo Duterte to surrender or be a subject for manhunt as fugitives of the law.
He was supposed to be parolee on probation but why was his name on the list? This was the question that bothered Buhawe when his policeman friend announced the news.
The new life he had started to lead peacefully was replaced with fear.
He told his wife and other family members to send him off to the police station in Bogo City as soon as possible. By the 19th of September, the last day of the 15-day ultimatum given by President Duterte, Buhawe was already in the facilities of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7) inside Camp Sotero Cabahug, along Gorordo Avenue, Cebu City.
Now that there is a possibility that he can be put back in prison, Buhawe just have one thing to ask for from the President: that there would be an immediate solution to his case.
“Kaning among pag voluntary surrender dili unta mag dugay. Tagaan unta ug solusyon para makauban namo balik amoa pamilya kay kinahanglan pud baya mi sa amoa pamilya,” said Buhawe.
(Hopefully this voluntary surrender would not take a long time. I hope they will resolve this matter immediately so we can go back to our families because they also need us.)
Buhawe sounded defeated but determined at the same time, saying there has to be a way for the government to resolve the matters involving parolees like him, or those who legitimately obtained their freedom through the GCTA law.
The GCTA law reduces a convict’s jail time depending on his behavior inside the jail. However, the law became controversial following the near release of rape-slay convict Antonio Sanchez, the former mayor of Calauan, Laguna who was meted multiple life sentences for the rape and murder of Eileen Sarmenta and the killing of her friend and University of the Philippines Los Baños schoolmate Allan Gomez in 1993.
The controversy prompted President Duterte to fire Bureau of Corrections (Bucor) chief Nicanor Faeldon and ordered all GCTA-freed convicts to be surrender within 15 days, or on or before September 19, or be hunted by the police.
Soon after, allegations surfaced that the release of convicts through GCTA was for sale.
Buhawe, who was convicted for homicide and freed on parole after eight years in prison, however said there was a mistake in the list submitted by BuCor, which unfortunately robbed him of the freedom he earned through good behavior inside the jail.
Buhawe said his records will clearly show that he was charged for murder, which was downgraded to homicide, for which he was in prison for eight years before he was paroled.
But imagine his shock when he was told that he was listed to have committed multiple rape and was freed under the GCTA law.
There must be an error made in the list prepared by the BuCor, he said.
Buhawe said decided to surrender to set the record straight and to show that he was deserving of the parole. His only hope now is for his plea to reach President Duterte.
“Gusto namo nga matarong lang gyud (We just want the problem to be solved properly),” he averred.
Right now, he added, all he could do was to trust the government and correct its error.
“Unta maka balo sila nya tarong gyud ako pag laya (I hope that they will realize that my release was done according to the process),” he said./elb
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Note: While Buhawe was willing to be interviewed, he did not want his photo to be taken to spare his new wife from embarrassment. She was with him when he was interviewed for this article.