Following the initial 371 persons deprived of liberty released on the 65th birthday of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., more inmates are expected to be released in the coming days.
Department of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said that they are eyeing to release more inmates in the next months which are included in the agency's thrust of decongesting penal facilities.
Earlier, Remulla said that if he will have his way, there would be another batch of PDLs who will get freed by October and November and another batch in December.
As for the Public Attorney's Office, the agency said it will be on hand in ridding jails of police stations in the country of overstaying detainees.
According to PAO Chief Persida V. Rueda-Acosta, they are in the process of targeting police stations to determine if there are detainees who should already be released and they are already working with the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to free persons who should no longer be in detention.
On Tuesday, Acosta was with Remulla at the Bureau of Corrections headquarters in Muntinlupa City during the release of 371 PDLs, including those helped by PAO.
Lawyers under PAO, Acosta said, have been directed to increase the number of persons they free from detention, adding that each public attorney will submit a report to her of those they have freed, adding if 100 persons are freed every month, now it should be 200.
Acosta noted that arrested persons are usually taken to police detention facilities before their transfer to a BJMP facility while their criminal cases are pending in court.
