Suspended BuCor official shot dead
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2020 09:44:19 +0000
LAWYER Fredric Anthony Santos
By AARON RECUENCO • JONATHAN HICAP
The chief of the legal service of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), who was suspended due to the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) controversy, was shot dead in Muntinlupa City on Wednesday.
A report reaching Camp Crame in Quezon City stated that lawyer Fredric Anthony Santos was about to fetch his daughter from the Southern Side Montessori School in Barangay Poblacion at around 2 p.m. when two gunmen shot him at close range.
Santos was inside his Toyota pickup when he was gunned down, according to the police report.
“(The) victim who sustained gunshot wounds in the head was declared dead by the Muntinlupa Rescue Team,” the report read.
Santos was among the ranking officials of the BuCor who was accused of benefiting from the GCTA modus.
Based on the expose, rich inmates convicted of heinous crime would pay huge sum of money to BuCor officials to increase the time that would be deducted from their prison terms.
As a result, some convicts were freed earlier than expected — and not for good conduct but for buying their freedom.
The anomaly was only exposed when Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez was about to be freed under GCTA. Sanchez was convicted of rape with murder of UP Los Banos student Eileen Sarmenta and murder of her friend and fellow UP student Allan Gomez.
It was later found out that almost 2,000 convicts of the New Bilibid Prison were freed due to GCTA. They reportedly included convicted Chinese drug lords.
This led President Duterte to order the return of all those who were freed via GCTA and the cancellation of its implementation.
During the Senate probe, Santos was also accused of other wrongdoings at the BuCor.
Santos was suspended for six months without pay by the Office of the Ombudsman due to the GCTA controversy.
Meanwhile, Senate President Vicente Sotto III called on the Department of Justice (DoJ) to investigate the killing of Santos.
He issued the appeal as he raised possibility that Santos’s death could be related to the rackets inside the NBP, particularly the GCTA.