THE front-page stories of recent weeks deal with persons who are wanted by various government agencies to answer questions or to answer for alleged criminal acts. Unfortunately the persons are not within Philippine territorial jurisdiction because, they were able to evade the process to compel their attendance – certain police and AFP officers who were wanted for alleged criminal offenses, for example. A Comelec high official made good his escape with the alleged connivance of official of other government agencies. He was reported to have been brought to Singapore, later London, much later Poland. As I wrote previously, when the trail of this official becomes hot, perhaps he will be taken to Brazil. I just hope that if capture or expatriation by the authorities of the host country will be imminent, he will not disappear in the jungles of the Amazon river basin. Worse, I hope he will not end up as piranha fodder.
Long before this, certain businessmen whose ethics were questionable because of their alleged fraudulent practices as to their trade and tax evasion acts, have up to now been able to stay in their host countries in spite of the (weak?) efforts of our authorities.
This week a Senate committee was frustrated in its investigation of alleged anomalies because the persons decided to take a vacation abroad. According to their lawyer, his clients had previous business commitments. This week the relatives of a kidnapped victim who was murdered, complained that the Bureau of Immigration deported the alleged criminal who was facing criminal charges. Again neither the prosecution nor the court was informed of the deportation proceedings. In some instances, drug lords were granted bail and forthwith escaped. In other incidents, drug lords escaped from the jails either by negligence or connivance of the guards.
On a less violent, but still important aspect of law enforcement, many Filipinos are smuggled out of the country without the required parental consent. Sometimes strangers, other times close relatives are the culprits. In many of said instances, the parental consent that is supposed to be authenticated by the Department of Social Welfare turns out to be fake or a falsification of the parents’ signature on the document.
Part of the reason why it is so difficult to run after those who violate our laws is because of the defect in our existing laws. For example, the passport of a Filipino citizen cannot be cancelled by the DFA without a court order. The process of filing in a Regional Trial Court and obtaining an order of cancellation of passport takes sometime because of the requirement of due process. I bring this matter out because the Senate investigations on various topics of public interest have brought these issues to the fore.
It is quite clear that new imaginative bold legislation is required which will make it difficult for fugitives from justice, or plain evaders of subpoenas to escape from the rule of law. And in the cases where the persons successfully escape to other countries, the proper extradition treaties and Interpol agreements should be made soonest. The strengthening of these laws and treaties is urgent, especially during these times when international terrorists are reported to be able to come in and out of our territory whenever they want to.
The required legislation would be quite a challenge to the skills and imagination of our legislators. It makes the making of these laws doubly difficult because we enjoy the benefits of a democratic system of government, where the individuals’ rights are guaranteed by the Constitution, especially in the Bill of Rights. If our country had the kind of colonial laws that are still in effect in the former British colonies, we would have fewer problems. Under the Internal Security Act, which is still in effect in Singapore and Malaysia, the authorities can detain or imprison for an indefinite time any person who is deemed a national security threat. In spite of our problems, we are really better off than many other Asian countries because our laws guarantee all the freedoms that are enjoyed by truly democratic countries.
