Lawmakers to SC: Free prisoners at risk of COVID

MANILA, Philippines — Five party-list lawmakers are asking the Supreme Court (SC) to use its “extraordinary powers” to order the mass release of prisoners in the country’s jails and prisons who are at risk of contracting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Reps. Carlos Zarate and Eufemia Cullamat of Bayan Muna, France Castro of Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Arlene Brosas of Gabriela and Sarah Elago of Kabataan – all members of the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives – wrote to Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta on Monday that the congested prison and detention facilities are “hotbed(s) for infection, amplification and spread of infectious diseases, especially of this virus that has a mutation for increased transmissibility.”

The lawmakers said that on April 6, the House justice committee recommended the temporary release of detainees to decongest jails and prisons nationwide, citing the lack of healthcare facilities and personnel, saying that keeping them in such conditions is “tantamount to a death sentence.”

Last April 8, relatives of 22 inmates who say they are political prisoners filed a 62-page petition before the SC asking that it order their release on humanitarian grounds.