DUMAGUETE CITY – The chief of the Parole and Probation Office here has advised qualified custodians to thoroughly understand provisions of the recognizance law because their reputation is at stake when a probationer is found violating such law.
City Chief Parole and Probation Officer Ma. Necita Marino on Tuesday was referring to Republic Act 10389, an Act Institutionalizing Recognizance As A Mode of Granting The Release of An Indigent Person in Custody As An Accused in a Criminal Case and For Other Purposes.
Marino issued the statement in reaction to a number of incidents where a probationer is re-arrested for committing the same offense, in most cases allegedly selling illegal drugs.
It is really the determination of a probationer to resist the temptation to commit an offense because the Parole and Probation Office no longer has the control in case a probationer who is released on recognizance violates the conditions for his or her release.
Such is the case of probationer Mark Macalipay of Barangay Calindagan here who even reported to the Parole and Probation Office the day before he was caught allegedly selling drugs last July 4.
Upon the release of the person on recognizance to the custodian, the probation office is directed to monitor and evaluate the activities of the person released on recognizance on a monthly basis to determine whether or not the conditions for his release have been complied with.
Marino said the office is diligently providing probationers with all the benefits including a therapeutic community program geared towards rehabilitation, but has no control if they go back to their vices especially if they live in the community where illegal drugs proliferate, which will result in revocation of his or her probation.
She advised barangay officials to thoroughly trace the roots of the family of persons being recognized because of an undertaking that “you have to produce the accused whenever required by the court.”
A penalty of six months to two years imprisonment shall be imposed upon the custodian who fail to produce the accused before the court, upon due notice, without justifiable reason.
She cited an experience of one custodian who had to spend money, time and resources to find the accused in a faraway place, otherwise, he could go to jail. (PNA)
