Senator Imee Marcos endorsed for Senate concurrence the “Treaty between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and on Cooperation in the Enforcement of Penal Sentences.”
Under Senate Resolution 1146 endorsed by Marcos, chairperson of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, Filipinos jailed in Canada for a crime committed will be transferred to a detention facility in the Philippines to serve his jail term.
On the other hand, Canadians detained in the Philippines will be moved to Canada to serve his sentence rendered by a Philippine court.
The transfer will be made only if the criminal offense committed by a detained person is recognized as a criminal offense both in the Philippines and Canada.
“Treaty provides that a sentenced person may be transferred when the act or omission on account of which the sentence has been imposed, would constitute a criminal offense according to the law of the receiving State, or would constitute a criminal offense if committed on its territory,” noted Marcos.
The Treaty likewise mandates that the transferring State shall retain exclusive jurisdiction over the judgments of its courts, the sentences imposed by them, as well as any procedure for the revision, modification, or cancellation of said judgments and sentences.
The President of the Philippines ratified the Treaty on January 24, 2023.
In the last April 16 hearing by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, the concurrence to ratify the Treaty was endorsed by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Justice and the Commission on Human Rights.
Furthermore, the senator said the President of the Philippines may, with the concurrence of the Senate, withdraw from the Treaty.
