(Eagle News) — The controversial convict former Calauan, Laguna mayor Antonio Sanchez has died, the Bureau of Corrections announced Saturday, 27 March 2021.
Mayor Sanchez, convicted in 1995 for the June 1993 rape-slay of 19-year old University of the Philippines Los Banos student Mary Eileen Sarmenta and the killing of her boyfriend UPLB student Allan Gomez, was found unresponsive in his cell at around 7 a.m., Saturday. He was then brought to the New Bilibid Prison Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
NBP Spokesperson Gabriel Chaclag said that the 72-year old Sanchez was last seen alive on Friday, at around 10 p.m. He said that when Sanchez’s cellmates tried to wake him up Saturday morning, “he was unresponsive.” He was then immediately brought to the hospital.
The NBP said there was “no sign of foul play.” An autopsy of Sanchez’s body is also to be done. His relatives had already been informed of his demise.
The former Calauan mayor had “chronic kidney disease, hypertension, recurring gastroenteritis, prostate problems, and asthma,” Chaclag said in a statement.
He was last hospitalized in September last year for gastroenteritis, electrolyte imbalance and shortness of breath but had tested negative for COVID-19 at the time.
Sanchez was almost released from prison due to a signed release order by then BuCor chief Nicanor Faeldon in August 2019 supposedly due to Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA). Sanchez’s release was stopped after news broke out on Faeldon’s questionable release order. Faeldon was fired a month later by President Rodrigo Duterte for allowing the release of prisoners convicted of heinous crimes using the GCTA. The Senate has also conducted hearings probing the so-called GCTA for sale, including Faeldon’s role in the release of a number of prisoners.
(Eagle News Service)