Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Catalino Jao, 77, can finally leave the New Bilibid Prison, a place he called home for 25 years.
Jao is now wheelchair-bound and can no longer hear or speak very well. He is one of four elderly inmates who received their certificates of conditional pardon on Tuesday, following President Rodrigo Duterte’s order granting executive clemency to a total of 127 convicts.
For the first batch, 23 others had their sentences reduced, but one of them had died in prison.
“Itong mga nacommute parang laya na rin to kaya lang kailangan muna ireduce yung penalty kapag nareduce yan tatakbo na yung process ng pardon,” Justice Undersecretary Reynante Orceo said.
(Translation: “Those who had their sentences commuted are practically free men–but we need to reduce their penalties first to observe due process.”)
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre handed the inmates their certificates of pardon and commutation of sentence in a ceremony at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa.
He said 19 others will have their prison terms reduced on Thursday.
Duterte earlier said sick and elderly inmates who already spent 40 years or more in jail “deserve” to walk free.
This would also decongest Bilibid, the President said in November, after he granted absolute pardon to actor Robin Padilla.
Unlike Padila, those granted conditional pardon may no longer be behind bars, but their political and civil rights are not yet fully restored, Aguirre said.
But what matters most for the pardoned inmates is they finally get to spend time with their loved ones.
Jao is just waiting for his relatives to fetch him.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of parricide, or killing a parent or other next of kin, but is no longer able to speak to CNN Philippines about his case.
Another pardoned inmate, Bienvenido Abagat, who served 10 years in jail, thanked the President for giving him another chance.
“Magbagong buhay na Ma’am tsaka magtrabaho na dyan ng kung ano-ano, mag-alaga ng mga apo, madami na pala (I will start a new life and get whatever job I can, and take care of many grandchildren),” Abagat said.
CNN Philippines’ Triciah Terada and Eimor P. Santos contributed to this report.
