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Its back to jail for ‘escaped’ rapist

January 16, 2008

MANILA Convicted child rapist former Rep. Romeo Jalosjos who left jail thinking he was already pardoned last month is now back in the slammer.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez ordered the return of Jalosjos to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City after a Zamboanga court rejected his habeas corpus petition.

DOJ chartered a plane to ferry Jalosjos bck to the national penitentiary.

Jalosjos flew by private plane to his hometown in Dipolog, Zamboanga del Norte Dec. 23 where he received a heros welcome. His sister is a congresswoman and his other relatives occupy top positions in Dipolog, his bailiwick. When Gonzales ordered his arrest for escaping, Jalosjos flew to Zamboanga city where he was rearrested and detained at the San Ramon penal colony.

His lawyers then filed the habeas corpus petition in the Zamboanga city court. He questioned the legality of his arrest maintaining that he was already ordered released by prison authorities on Dec. 16.

But the justice department said it had not approved his release. The case had resulted in the dismissal of Bureau of Corrections director Ricardo Dapat and the filing of charges on other prison officials.

Dapat has said that had he kept Jalosjos detained beyond Dec. 16, he could have been charged with arbitrary detention. But Gonzalez who has control over the bureau voided the release order and issued a directive that Jalosjos stay in jail until June 2010.

Gonzalez said the courts decision to junk Jalosjos petition in effect sustained the DOJs re-computation on Jalosjos jail term. The re-computation showed Jalosjos could be released on June 24, 2010, not Dec. 16, 2007 as earlier recommended by the Bureau of Correction.

In 15-page resolution on the re-computation of Jalosjos commuted sentence dated January 1, the DOJ disapproved two kinds of good conduct time allowance given to Jalosjos by the BuCor, which would have reduced his stay in prison by more than two years and six months.

Jalosjos was convicted of statutory rape in 1997 and sentenced to double life terms. Last April, President Arroyo commuted his sentence to 16 years.

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