Thursday, September 20, 2007
Bill - Hon. Jessica E. Dimaya
Republic of the Philippines
YOUTH CONGRESS
Baguio City
HOUSE BILL NO.___
Introduced by HON. JESSICA E. DIMAYA
AN ACT
IMPOSING HIGHER PENALTIES ON ALL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AND/OR PUBLIC OFFICIALS INVOLVED IN ANY ILLEGAL NUMBERS GAME, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE SECTION 5 (a) OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9287, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS ANTI-ILLEGAL GAMBLING LAW.
Be it enacted by the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:
SECTION 1. Section 5 (a) of Republic Act No. 9287, otherwise known as Anti-Illegal Gambling Law is hereby amended to read as follows:
“SEC. 5. Liability of Government Employees and / or Public Officials.- (a) If the collector, agent, coordinator, controller, supervisor, maintainer, manager, operator, financier or capitalist, protector or coddler of any illegal numbers game is a government employee and/or public official, whether elected or appointed, shall suffer the penalty of fifteen (15) years and one (1) day to twenty-five (25) years of imprisonment and a fine ranging from Five million pesos (P5,000,000.00) to Ten million pesos (P10,000,000.00) and perpetual absolute disqualification from public office.
SECTION 2. Repealing Clause.- All provisions of laws, decrees, executive orders, issuances, rules and regulations, inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed, amended or modified.
SECTION 3. Effectivity.- This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved,
Republic of the Philippines
YOUTH CONGRESS
Baguio City
HOUSE BILL NO.___
Introduced by HON. JESSICA E. DIMAYA
EXPLANATORY NOTE
For generations, illegal gambling and politics have intertwined in the Philippines. Many of our government officials are part of the illegal gambling network. Most of them serve as protectors or financiers of these illegal numbers game.
Reports show that about 20 to 30 percent of the annual revenues from illegal numbers game -anywhere from six billion to ten billion pesos- is paid as bribes or protection money to town mayors, provincial governors, police chiefs, members of congress, and top-level officers of the Philippine National Police. These revenues also serve as a major source of campaign contributions.
Despite of the penalties imposed on government officials involved in illegal gambling which is provided in Sec. 5 of RA No. 9287, otherwise known as Anti- Illegal Gambling Law, still, numerous public officials are continuously conniving, tolerating, and protecting illegal numbers game.
This bill seeks to impose higher penalties on all government employees and/or public officials involved in any illegal numbers game and amend for the purpose Sec. 5 (a) of RA No. 9287. If this bill is passed, it will empower the state to adopt more stringent measures to halt cases of bribery, corruption, and other crimes associated with illegal gambling. It will serve as warning to all government employees and/or public officials of the harsh penalties they have to face if they get involved in illegal gambling. It will instigate fear or apprehension to the government officials which will prevent them from having any sort of involvement in illegal gambling.
In pursuit of the Sec. 1, Article 6 of the Philippine Constitution, which provides that public office is a public trust and public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives, the immediate approval of this bill is earnestly requested.
HON. JESSICA E. DIMAYA
Labels: drugs
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