Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Wednesday said the immigration lookout bulletin orders issued by the Department of Justice against high-profile personalities facing criminal charges, including former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, will stay despite the new guidelines set by the Supreme Court to avert flight of respondents.
Guevarra made the statement after the SC adopted a new rule on the prevention of flight of criminal suspects through a Precautionary Hold Departure Order after it earlier nullified the power of the DoJ to issue hold departure orders or watchlist orders.
The Justice secretary said LBOs were not covered by the SC ruling last April that voided DoJ Circular No. 41 issued by former DoJ secretary and now detained Senator Leila De Lima for violation of the constitutional right to travel.
“The LBO does not restrain foreign travel but serves only as a measure to monitor movements abroad of certain persons of interest,” he said in a text message.
Aquino, former Health secretary Janette Garin and former Budget secretary Florencio Abad Jr. are covered by an existing LBO in relation to charges of multiple homicide and physical injuries through negligence under the Revised Penal Code, malversation of public funds, and violations of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) and R.A. 9184 (Government Procurement Reform Act) filed against them by Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution Inc. last February.
Guevarra said that the DoJ is keeping the LBO, which was issued by resigned Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II in December last year when a key witness surfaced to spill the beans on the P3.5-billion dengue immunization program.
He added that a similar order against Cebuano businessman Peter Lim, who is facing drug charges before the DoJ, also stays.
“The LBOs issued on these high-profile personalities (Aquino, Garin, Abad and Lim) are not lifted,” the DoJ chief said.
However, the DoJ chief admitted that the rule on issuance of LBO would have to be modified insofar as it requires the subjects to secure an Allow Departure Order from the department before they could be allowed to leave the country.
“We are reviewing if we should modify the LBO in its present form or scrap it altogether in the light of the SC ruling. With the new PHDO, this ADO element of the LBO will not be necessary,” Guevarra said, even as he welcomed the new rule issued by the high court involving PHDO on criminal suspects that will be issued by the trial courts this time.
“The PHDO is a welcome development as far as the prosecution is concerned as it provides us with an avenue to possibly deter individuals with serious criminal cases from just leaving the country in order to frustrate the ends of justice, while the preliminary investigation is ongoing,” he added.
Guevarra noted that although that the process for PHDO may be “more tedious than the previous WLO or LBO” as it involves court approval.
“We are hoping that Congress will enact a law that will directly empower the Secretary of Justice to restrict the right to travel of persons under preliminary investigation for serious offenses, subject to constitutional limitations,” he said.
Nonetheless, he welcomed the action of the SC since the DOJ really had predicaments as result of the ruling on HDO and WLO.
“The DOJ intends to make full use of the PHDO authorized by the Supreme Court,” he added.
Voting 11-1, the SC approved the Rule on PHDO in place of the HDO and WLO of DOJ under the voided DOJ Circular No. 41.
The PHDO is a written order issued by a court directing the Bureau of Immigration to prevent any attempt by a person suspected of a crime to depart the country.
The SC guidelines provide that such order “shall be issued ex party in cases involving crimes where the minimum of the penalty prescribed by law is at least six years and one day.”
The tribunal said the PHDO may be applied in the same manner as a search warrant may be issued, which means there is no need for preliminary determination of probable cause in the charges against the subject.
It only requires a determination “that there is a high probability that the subject will depart from the Philippines to evade arrest and prosecution of crime against him or her.”
“The preliminary finding of probable cause is solely based on the complaint and is for the sole purpose of issuing the PHDO and shall be without prejudice to the resolution by the prosecutor of any criminal complaint during the preliminary investigation,” the SC said.
Under the new rules, a prosecutor may apply for the issuance of PHDO before any regional trial court with territorial jurisdiction over the alleged crime.
The Court also tapped the RTCs in Manila, Quezon City, Cebu City, Iloilo City, Davao City and Cagayan De Oro City to act on PHDO applications by prosecutors based on complaints instituted by the National Bureau of Investigation regardless of where the alleged crimes were committed.
“Any PHDO shall be valid until recalled by the court. Once issued, the PHDO may be lifted by a verified motion filed by the respondent questioning the existence of probable cause of a showing that she or he is not a flight risk. The PHDO may also be lifted to allow him or her to leave the country upon posting of bond in an amount to be determined by the court,” it added.
The new rule on PHDO, which was issued under the rule-making power of the SC under Section 5 (5) of the 1987 Constitution, takes effect within 15 days after publication in two major national newspapers.