To decongest jails: Gesmundo urged to institute Writ of Kalayaan

Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo has been urged on Saturday (June 12) to realize the proposed writ of kalayaan that would help decongest jails.

“The time to adopt and adapt rules is now,” prisoners support group Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim said in a statement.

“Not tomorrow, not according to circumstances, but now because the impact of the pandemic is worst in congested prisons,” she stressed.

With this, Lim asked Gesmundo to convene a national consultative summit on the writ of kalayaan that can be done by videoconference, similar to the multisectoral summit organized on July 16-17, 2007 by Chief Justice Reynato Puno which consolidated inputs and support for the trailblazing writ of amparo and habeas data to strengthen protection and enforcement of constitutional rights in the face of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.”

Supreme Court (SC) Justice Marvic Leonen proposed the establishment of a writ of kalayaan in a separate opinion on the petition of 22 political prisoners who sought temporary release for being vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus. The SC referred the case to the lower courts.

During a press conference held Friday (June 11), Gesmundo said this proposal is thoroughly being studied.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)