By DOMINIC GUTOMAN
Bulatlat.com
(UPDATED: Feb. 2, 2024; 5:14 pm) MANILA – Time is running out for the Philippine government to grant Gerardo “Gerry” Dela Peña, the oldest political prisoner in the country, his long-sought freedom.
Dela Peña, 84, is already in his twilight years. His eyesight and hearing are continuously deteriorating and he is also suffering from hypertension and diabetes.
The Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP) released Resolution No. OT-08-02-2023. This resolution states that persons deprived of liberty (PDL) aged 70 and above, have served at least 10 years of their sentence, and even if they are considered high risk, are eligible for executive clemency from the President, especially if they have a terminal illness or serious disability.
Read: Government says no executive clemency for oldest political prisoner
In December 2023, Dela Peña and several other PDLs heard in a radio broadcast that his name is among those qualified for executive clemency.
The Department of Justice through Undersecretary Jesse Hermogenes T. Andres even said that Dela Peña is now entitled for release because of the new resolution.
According to the political prisoners at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), the names mentioned by the DOJ were released by end-December together with 20 persons deprived of liberty (PDL).
“This is stated in the order, and they should abide by it. Besides, I have not committed any of the acts in the cases that they filed against me,” Dela Peña said in Filipino in a statement retrieved by support group Kapatid.
Dela Peña seems conscious of time and sharp on details, ensuring that crucial moments of his life are documented.
Behind the case
Dela Peña was charged with murder along with five other John Does. He was arrested on March 21, 2023 in Camarines Norte. Ever since his conviction, Dela Peña denied that he killed his nephew, Melchor Dela Peña.
“My house is only 20 kilometers away from them. There were initial witnesses before who identified three armed sparrows responsible for the killing. But later on, they would retract their statements for reasons I don’t know,” said Dela Peña.
He recalled that during the time of the incident, he was celebrating the fiesta in their barangay. He was also infuriated with the killing of his nephew and sought justice for the crime.
“Maybe they did not know him very well because sometimes, whenever he drove around, he carried guns. But for me, it’s not enough for him to be killed,” he said.
In an earlier story, Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim said that he was linked to the case because “some of his relatives were mad at him for taking the side of a brother in a family squabble.”
The New People’s Army claimed responsibility for the killings. However, the decision of the Supreme Court remained firm, convicting him in 2013 after testifying in court only once.
“When I was arrested, my other relatives hugged me. They know that I could not do such an act. They also continued to visit me when I was still detained in Daet,” Dela Peña recalled.
Prior to his conviction, barangay residents also appealed for his immediate release during the trial.
Dela Peña says that his human rights work in Camarines Norte led to his swift conviction.
As a human rights defender
During the Martial Law years, Dela Peña was an ordinary farmer tilling his small lands in Daet. In 1982, he was arrested under trumped-up charges of subversion and robbery.
Shortly a year later, Dela Peña ran for Barangay Captain in the local elections. He won followed by his release.
Given the opportunity to serve their barangay, he was also able to prove his innocence to the charges against him, prompting his acquittal.
Dela Peña spearheaded programs on peace and order, reforestation, dispute resolution, and access to justice at the barangay level. He would also draft programs on land ownership for his fellow farmers in the region.
His experience of detention from 1982 to 1983 prompted him to accept the position as Chairperson of Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (Selda) until 1990.
With documents from human rights groups, it can be traced that Dela Peña was also engaged in fact-finding missions in the killings of peasant workers in Camarines Norte.
In the early 1990s, Dela Peña also recalled being present as a lecturer in human rights discussions with former Senator Wigberto E. Tañada and former Commissioner Hesiquio Mallillin of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
Until now, he says that he continues to write insights about social issues whenever he has time in prison. He also engaged in discussions with his fellow political prisoners since he was transferred to the NBP.
All these efforts, he said, are to carry on sharpening his analysis of the national situation despite his continuous detention.
Longing and sickness in detention
“I am just a few meters away from the grave, I would also want to experience being with my family on my last days,” he said.
Dela Peña has two sons and four grandchildren. His eldest granddaughter would always visit him during her free time.
At the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Kapatid spearheaded a petition at the Supreme Court for the release of inmates medically vulnerable to the lethal Covid-19 contagion, particularly the elderly, ailing and pregnant prisoners like Reina Mae Nasino based on humanitarian grounds.
Last year, Karapatan recorded 95 sickly political prisoners, 75 are elderly. Not one has been released in government rounds of releases of elderly inmates.
On December 19, 2019, he said that he was brought to a hospital due to hypertension. On March 11, 2020, he also reportedly spit out blood while in detention.
Dela Peña has not been receiving the medical attention he needs. Most of his vitamins and his medical maintenance needs are provided by Kapatid.
The average budget for food is measly 70 pesos per day. By Tuesday, the food rations from NBP are almost depleted.
NBP has the highest congestion rate of 377 percent. The subhuman conditions inside the prison may exacerbate the failing health conditions of political prisoners and PDLs in general.
Despite the deteriorating conditions, Dela Peña remains hopeful that he will still be reunited with his elderly wife Pilar and their family in Camarines Norte. (RTS, RVO) 
