Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Friday urged the Philippine National Police (PNP) to come up with a program to address the problem of increasing incidence of incestuous rapes, or forced sexual activity between family members.
In his speech during the 70th anniversary celebration of the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Remulla lamented that more than half of the persons in the government’s Witness Protection Program (WPP) are victims of incestuous rape.
“So I ask this of the CIDG, I hope we can have a program to address this,” Remulla said, noting that most of the suspects in incestuous rape are fathers and husbands who are breadwinners of the families.
“Since the suspects are breadwinners, whenever a child complains about an abuse, the mother would be the ones to stop the filing of complaints,” he lamented.
Thus, Remulla appealed to the public to be vigilant. “This is an appeal for everyone to be aware of such incidents,” he said.
“To the communities, find out if there are such incidents taking place and keep filing cases to put an end to such practice,” he added.
Department of Social Welfare and Development records showed that from 2011 to 2016, the agency served a total of 2,770 incest victims out of 7,418 victims of sexual abuse.
The DOJ also vowed to undertake necessary measures to amend the conduct of a preliminary investigation under the Rules on Criminal Procedure, in a bid to improve the conduct of an investigation.
Remulla said there is a constant dialogue between the DOJ and the Supreme Court aimed at improving the rules on preliminary investigation.
“The DOJ is in constant dialogue with the Supreme Court to amend the Rules of Court. Specifically, we have reached an agreement whereby the DOJ will lead the efforts to amend Rule 112 on Preliminary Investigation,” Remulla said.
Under the rules, a preliminary investigation is defined as “an inquiry or proceeding to determine whether there is sufficient ground to engender a well-founded belief that a crime has been committed and the respondent is probably guilty thereof and should be held for trial.”
Remulla said what he wants is for the prosecutors and the police to work hand-in-hand in case build-up.
“Preliminary investigation will start and end in the DOJ…In this setup, prosecutors in the DOJ will assist and encourage the police force in their fight against criminality on the streets,” he stressed.
Remulla’s effort to amend Rule 112 of the Rules on Criminal Procedure was previously mentioned during his meeting with United States Senator Edward J. Markey.
The DOJ chief said the aim of the amendment is to improve case build-up and gathering of evidence in order to be able to increase or strengthen the country’s conviction rate.