Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla (File photo)
MANILA – More than the resolution of high-profile cases, radical and long overdue reforms in the country’s justice system highlight the first full year of the Marcos administration under the watch of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla and the judiciary with Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo at the helm.
‘Luffy’ and immigration reforms
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has proven its firm resolve in ensuring that the Philippines would not be a haven for unscrupulous aliens evading prosecution in their homelands.
In the first quarter of this year, the deportation of Japanese fugitive Yuki Watanabe, more commonly known as “Luffy”, made headlines. He is the alleged leader of a gang responsible for a string of violent robberies in Japan.
Watanabe ran the gang’s operations online while detained at the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) facility in Taguig City, through mobile phones smuggled into his cell.
Following Japanese prosecutors' request, Watanabe, along with three other Japanese nationals, were sent back to Japan.
Remulla vowed action against defense lawyers whom he said prepared "contrived" cases for their detained expatriate clients to prevent them from being deported to their home countries.
The trumped-up cases involved bogus charges for violence against women and children usually done through a sworn statement by a supposed girlfriend of the suspect in the Philippines.
The DOJ is currently working with the Supreme Court (SC) to tighten the rules on the practice of law in these cases.
In October, a former Bureau of Immigration (BI) official was convicted of faking the travel documents of Jan Marsalek, an Austrian fugitive businessman who is wanted for his involvement in the collapse of the German payment processing firm Wirecard.
The Pasay City Regional Trial Court Branch 111, in an Oct. 9 ruling, found former BI supervising officer Marcos Nicodemus guilty of two charges of violating Republic Act (RA) 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012) and RA 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) and sentenced him to up to nine years imprisonment with perpetual disqualification to hold public office for falsifying the travel records of Marsalek during the height of the pandemic.
Marsalek, 43, who is believed to be somewhere in Russia, is wanted by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) for his part in the Wirecard scandal, which involved more than USD2 billion in missing funds.
To address the involvement of BI personnel in irregularities, the government has announced that it considering outsourcing the process of issuing visas following the discovery of anomalies in visas issued to Chinese travelers.
Remulla recommended to Malacanang that the processing of visas of Chinese nationals entering the Philippines be handled by third-party visa outsourcing and technology services specialist VFS Global.
The firm works with governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, with more than 3,000 application centers and operations in 149 countries.
POGOs and human trafficking
The government has also mounted a crackdown on human trafficking amid controversies over the extent of the power of immigration officers to hold an outbound Filipino from boarding a flight.
Several raids this year on large-scale Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) which employed Filipinos and foreigners have revealed white slavery conditions.
These firms which operate in self-contained buildings in Metro Manila and nearby provinces have shown many indications of human trafficking and other related crimes, the DOJ said.
Employees are typically misled as they are being told that they would work like legitimate customer service representatives but are later directed to engage in scams or other illegal activities, DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty said.
Ty, Undersecretary for the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), said raided POGOs committing human trafficking also confiscated passports and other important personal belongings of their employees.
The DOJ also revealed that employees who are not able to meet their quotas experience various forms of abuse.
Several victims have since been sent back to their home countries by the Philippine government.
Prosecutors have also started cracking down on old-style illegal recruitment of local workers.
In November, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed criminal charges against a firm that allegedly promised employment in Italy in exchange for up to PHP180,000 in placement fees.
Scores of individuals from Cavite and Batangas filed a complaint with the assistance of the NBI against Alpha Assistenza SLR officials.
Several applicants who paid the firm have claimed that the Italian authorities subsequently rejected their visa applications because of fake “nulla osta” or work permits provided by Alpha Assistenza.
Hunt on for Bantag, Teves
The DOJ also made progress in going after primary suspects in high-profile cases – former Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag, the alleged mastermind in the murder of journalist Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa and then Negros Oriental representative Arnolfo Teves Jr, the prime suspect in the March 4 killing of then Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo.
In the case of Teves, the DOJ has made representation with the government of East Timor where he is supposedly hiding for the former lawmaker's return to the country to face prosecution.
The DOJ has also met with representatives of other countries such as the United Kingdom and China to discuss terms of prisoner swaps and deportation.
Prosecution reforms, jail decongestion
To further decongest both court dockets and jail facilities, Remulla announced that talks are ongoing with the high court to reform procedures to allow closer coordination between prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to ensure a higher rate of conviction, as well as help do away with nuisance suits.
Ahead of the proposed changes in court procedure, the DOJ in February formally directed prosecutors to withdraw cases where the chances of conviction are slim.
Department Circular No. 008 stated that the measure will decongest court dockets and is “in view of the department’s policy direction to only file cases with a reasonable certainty of conviction.”
Prosecutors were directed to “carefully assess all their cases and to determine if each has a reasonable certainty of conviction based on the evidence in hand, availability of witnesses and continued interest of private complainants.”
“If upon assessment by the handling prosecutor, it is determined that there is no such reasonable certainty of conviction, the said handling prosecutor is ordered to immediately file the proper motion to withdraw (the) information,” Remulla said.
As part of efforts to improve the justice system, the DOJ also announced new guidelines for prosecutors in reducing the recommended bail in criminal cases for temporary liberty to PHP10,000 for indigents.
In Department Circular 11, the prosecutor in cases involving indigent respondents shall only indicate 50 percent of the recommended bail as stated in the 2018 Bail Bond Guide or PHP10,000, whichever is lower.
The measure along with an earlier circular, Department Circular 008-A, only quality criminal cases backed by credible evidence will have the effect of "decongesting court dockets," the DOJ said.
The new rule applies to all cases undergoing inquest or preliminary investigation of indigents if these do not include punishable by death, reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment.
The reduced bail is eyed to prevent the detention of individuals for crimes that are in fact bailable but are unable to afford the amount set by the court.
The measure was brought as an offshoot of the recent Justice Sector Coordinating Council (JSCC) dialogue last month, which included discussions on overpopulation and congestion of jail and detention facilities. (PNA)
