MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Friday said it has formed tracker teams in preparation for the manhunt operations against beneficiaries of the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) law who will fail to comply with President Rodrigo Duterte’s 15-day deadline.
The PNP said the 121 tracker teams formed by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) will be deployed at the end of the 15-day period, which will be on Sept. 19.
There are only six days left before the deadline lapses.
“Nag-organize na agad tayo ng mga teams ng CIDG sa bawat regional offices sa mga provincials at cities,” PNP-CIDG deputy director for administration Police Brigadier General Bernabe Balba told UNTV News in a phone interview.
This is for the investigation and recomputation of their good conduct credits whether they are eligible to avail of the law.
Duterte warned they will be treated as fugitives if they fail to surrender within the given period.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government earlier said it is eyeing to get the help of the International Police (INTERPOL) in arresting heinous crimes convicts freed due to GCTA. This is after they received information that some of the 1,914 released convicts have already left the country.
READ: DILG eyes Interpol, ASEAN police aid in catching GCTA-freed convicts abroad
Balba said that as early as now, tracker teams have started perusing the list of freed heinous criminals who are still at large, as well as their personal information in order to locate their possible whereabouts.
“Even before the deadline ay tumutulong na tayo na malocate at meron din namang namang nagsu-surrender in fact as of today ay nakapagtala na tayo ng 47 surrenderers sa CIDG,” he said.
Data from the PNP showed that as of 6 a.m. Friday, around 353 heinous crimes convicts freed due to GCTA have surrendered to authorities.
Of this number, 115 were convicted for murder while 108 were involved in rape cases.
Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) Regional Police Office has the highest number of surrenderers with 51 followed by Cagayan Valley (Police Regional Office 2) with 35.
The PNP said 234 of the total number of surrendered convicts have been turned over to the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor). RRD (with details from Correspondent Lea Ylagan)
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