Transfer of sentenced persons between RP and Spain pushed

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos serving jail sentences in Spain will soon get a chance to do their time in the Philippines.

Lawmakers are pushing for the adoption of House Joint Resolution No. 11, which authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue the implementing rules and regulations (IRRs) to effectively carry out the provisions of the treaty on the transfer of sentenced persons between the Philippines and Spain.

Rep. Narciso D. Santiago III (Partylist, ARC), principal author, said the Department of Justice, being the central authority in all the treaties on sentenced persons, must be the agency responsible for formulation of the IRRs.

Santiago and Reps Matias V. Defensor, (3rd Dist., Quezon City) Chairman of the Justice Committee and Junie E. Cua (Lone Dist., Quirino) stressed the need for the issuance of IRRs to guarantee effective implementation of the treaty.

The treaty entered into by the governments of the Philippines and Spain aims to ensure the effective reformation and rehabilitation of Filipinos serving their sentence in Spain, as they will be afforded the opportunity to serve their sentences in the Philippines and vice versa.

“As per the instruction of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations the IRRs shall provide for the definition of nationality, as to whether it refers to citizenship, habitual residents or all of the above," Santiago said.

Santiago said the IRRs must resolve the issue on which state shall determine the duration of the penalty, when the sentence imposed is shorter in the administering State than in the sentencing State.

“It should provide for the mechanism to be used so that if the sentencing State, after final judgment rejects the case, the same person could be brought back to the sentencing State," Santiago stressed.

Santiago said the IRR based on the Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations instruction must also provide for the ground for granting or denying a request for transfer made under Article 6.

“This is necessary, because under Article 3 paragraph 4, there is no need to state the grounds when one state makes a decision in order to execute the treaty," Santiago said.

Santiago added that the IRRs must also define whether a person can be forced to transfer if he or she does not want to go back to the country of nationality, among others.

The measure as referred to the House Committees on Justice and Appropriations seeks an initial budget of P5 million for the implementation of the said treaty. - D'Jay Lazaro, GMANews.TV

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