Republic Act (RA) 10592, otherwise known as “AN ACT AMENDING

ARTICLES 29, 94, 97, 98 AND 99 OF ACT NO. 3815, AS AMENDED,

OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE REVISED PENAL CODE”, is an
enlightened piece of legislation that brings to the fore that other
aspect of imprisonment which is quite often overlooked: the
rehabilitation of the offender. Oftentimes, we think of
imprisonment in the sense of punishment for those who have
committed crimes. However, many overlook the fact that beyond
punishing criminals, the greater objective of imprisonment is the
rehabilitation of the offenders so that they may become again
useful and God-fearing citizens of the Philippines.

This beautiful objective of RA 10592 was further highlighted by its

provisions regarding the increase of Good Conduct Time
Allowances (GCTA) to prisoners who have consistently conducted
themselves well in prison. This is good because it gives them
great incentives to behave well, to participate in meritorious
activities like studying or teaching while in prison, and to hope for
achieving freedom through legal means (and not through
escaping).

But then, the dampener came: the implementing rules and

regulations (IRR) to this law that were promulgated by the
Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Interior and Local Government
(DILG) in March 2014 said that the law would be prospective and
not retroactive! Meaning to say, this law will apply only to those
who will be imprisoned from the date this law took effect! What
about those who have been languishing in our jails for so many
years? What about the proponent Senators' intention of
decongesting our jails? What about giving hope to those
prisoners who have been rehabilitated and would like to rejoin the
larger society in the very near future? Will this law not benefit
them?

Besides, the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa, the provincial

and city jails all over the Philippines are all over-congested.
Because of this congestion, many of our inmates are getting sick.
If we look at why the prisoners remain there, we can see that,
perhaps, more than half of them may leave already because they
have been rehabilitated and are ready and willing to rejoin the
bigger society as good, productive citizens of the Philippines.
Perhaps, some of them didn't deserve to have been imprisoned
in the first place but, because of poverty, were not able to avail of
good legal representation. Let's not talk anymore about the
merits or demerits or their case. Let's just talk about how well
they had behaved in prison and how they deserve to be given
"time out for good behavior".
RA 10592 is the easiest legal way out of prison for those wrongly
imprisoned and for those, though they have been proven guilty
beyond reasonable doubt of crimes that are not heinous, have
already turned a new leaf and have truly been rehabilitated. (By
the way, this law is also not applicable to repeat offenders or
those who have made it a habit to go in and out of prisons.)