FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
Senate Bill No. 9 4 9  
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR MANNY VILLAR 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Article 97 of the Revised Penal Code discriminates against detention 
prisons in the sense that while under confinement they are not, unlike convicted 
felons, credited good conduct time allowance. Consequently, in the evacuation of 
their petition for parole or executive clemency where eligibility for release 
depends on the period of time served, the release of a detention prison is 
correspondingly delayed for a period equal to the good time allowance that the 
inmate could have earned had he been under confinement by virtue of a 
conviction by final judgment. 
Delay in the resolution of petitions for parole or executive clemency in city 
and provincial jails is also encountered because good conduct time allowance, 
which a prisoner is supposed to earn, is not incorporated into his prison record by 
the warden concerned. This has been the practice since under Article 99 of the 
Revised Penal Code, only the Director of Prisons (now Corrections) is authorized 
to confer good conduct time allowance. 
The bill seeks to remedy these loopholes by amending Articles 97 and 99, 
granting good conduct time allowance not only to convicted offenders, but also to 
detention prisoners, to those cases are undergoing trial, and to those who have 
been finally convicted but have other pending cases. The bill further empowers 
city and provincial wardens to confer, if justified, good conduct time allowance to 
prisoners. 
In view of the foregoing, the approval of this bill is earnestly sought. 
MANNYVIL AR 
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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR MANNY VILLAR 
AN ACT 
TO ENSURE THE FAIR AND EQUAL TREATMENT OF PRISONERS, 
AMENDING FOR THAT PURPOSE ARTICLES 39,94,97, AND 99 OF ACT 
NO. 3815, AS AMENDED, THE REVISED PENAL CODE, AND FOR OTHER 
PURPOSES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
Philippines in congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Allowance for Good Conduct of Detained Prisoners.- 
The first and opening paragraph of Article 97 of the Revised Penal Code is 
hereby amended to read as follows: 
"Art. 97. Allowance for good conduct.- 
The good conduct 
of any OFFENDER QUALIFIED FOR CREDIT FOR PREVENTIVE 
IMPRISONMENT PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 29 OF THIS CODE, 
OR OF ANY CONVICTED prisoner in any penal institution, 
REHABILITATION OR DETENTION CENTER OR ANY OTHER 
LOCAL JAIL, shall entitle him to the following deductions from the 
period of his sentence:" 
SECTION 2. Article 94 of the Revised Penal Code is hereby amended to 
read as follows: 
"Art. 94. Partial Extinction of Criminal Liabi1ify.- Criminal 
"1. By conditional pardon; 
"2. By commutation of the sentence; and 
"3. For good conduct allowances which the culprit may earn 
while he is UNDERGOING PREVENTIVE IMPRISONMENT OR 
serving his sentence." 
liability is extinguished partially: 


SECTION 3. Subsidiary Pena/fy.- The first and opening paragraph of 
Article 39 of the Revised Penal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 
“Art. 39. Subsidiary pena/fy.- 
If the convict has no 
property with which to meet the fine mentioned in the paragraph 3 
of the next preceding article, he shall be subject to a subsidiary 
personal liability at the rate of one day for each [eight] ONE 
HUNDRED pesos, subject to the following rules:” 
SECTION 4. Who grants time a//owances.- Article 99 of the Revised 
Penal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 
“Art. 99. Who grants time al/owances.- Whenever lawfully 
justified, the Director of [Prisons] CORRECTIONS AND THE 
WARDEN OF A PROVINCIAL, DISTRICT, MUNICIPAL, OR CITY 
JAIL shall grant allowances for good conduct. Such allowances 
once granted shall not be revoked. 
SECTION 5. €ffectivity.- 
This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days 
following its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of 
general circulation. 
Approved.