Republic of the Philippines

YOUTH CONGRESS

Baguio City

Explanatory Note

The Law of infidelity in the custody of prisoners has been a vintage time since it was. The penalties impose during those days are probably not effective in today’s time, where crimes have become a common occurrence. At the same time the escape of prisoners or the criminals who has been captured has very often obvious by the public eyes. The Government official or employees whose in charge of a prisoners much often commit such infidelity in the custody because the penalty for such cowardly act is light and therefore freeing illegally a prisoner through bribery is very great if not too tempting. Anyone who frees a prisoner is part of the commission of the offense perpetrated by the prisoner. A guard who frees an inmate not only participates to the commission of the crimes of the offender but it will turned as a traitor to the government and to the law he is sworn to protect and respect.
In the penal code the penalty for the crime of freeing a convicted prisoners by their guard or keepers is an imprisonment in its medium to its maximum period, therefore the penalty begins at two (2) years and one day to six (6) years. However for the crime or infidelity in the custody of prisoners who are merely in detention, the penalty is imprisonment in its minimum period, which is six (6) months and one day to two (2) years. The emphasis of the imposition of the penalty is based on the prisoners is convicted or merely in detention. For me this categorization is not proper and is insufficient because the penalty that they’d impose is not based on the gravity of the offense of the prisoner. True, the accused is deemed innocent until he is convicted. But now days, there are existence of crimes that are so repugnance and brutal that it destroys the human being and violate the sensibilities if man.
The commission of crimes those are heinous, like murder, rape, the massacre or extermination of a family, terrorism, genocide by the use of weapon of mass destruction like dynamite and explosion have become nightmares which threatens the stability of the government. Yet every now and then we are scandalized by the rampant escape of those accused of the terrorism, economic sabotage, massacre, rape and similar terrible felonies from their high security to put in a prisoner while the officials and the personnel in charge of the detainee literally go scot-free because the highest penalty they can be meted out is two (2) years imprisonment. It should give the highest penalties for those who would illegally free the detainee(s) especially the convicted government officials.
The approval of this revised bill into law at the earliest possible time would be my paramount concern.

INTRODUCE BY MA. VERONICA MUNDA

AN ACT
DEFINING THE CRIME OF BETRAYAL OF DUTY IN THE CUSTODY OF PRISONERS PROVIDING FOR ADDITIONAL RULES ON THE IMPRISONMENT, DETENTION, CONFINEMENT AND CUSTODY OF PRISONERS AND DETAINEES SPECIFYING ADDITIONAL WORKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OD GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL CHARGED WITH THE CUSTODY OF SUCH PRISONERS AND STATING THE PENALTIES THEREFORE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Sec.1 Short Title. This Act shall also be known as ”Betrayal of Duty”
Sec. 2.Any provision of law, the crime of betrayal of duty in the custody of prisoners and detained persons is hereby defined as an Act whereby a persons charge with custody of prisoners, detained persons under preventive imprisonment, persons arrested in the Act of committing crime, Persons who are wanted in foreign countries by which the Philippines as a treaty of reciprocity for extradition, persons committing heinous crimes, terrorist and war criminal or engaged in economic sabotage, will not allow the escape of such prisoners or persons similarly situated without legal justification, or else shall be punished with a penalty which is one degree lower than the penalty imposed for the offense which the detainee is charged with or convicted of, provided that in no case shall the penalty imposed be lower than prison, correctional in its minimum period. For the escape of a detainee wanted by a foreign country, the penalty of prison, correctional in its maximum period, for the escape of the prisoners who are accused of the commission heinous, terrorism, war crimes, and economic sabotage, the penalty of life imprisonment shall be imposed without any provision of parole, and for the persons convicted of the crime of betrayal of duty in the custody of prisoners shall likewise suffer a special permanent of disqualification, if the detainee have been convicted or who has admitted his guilt in open court, even if, the decision of conviction has not been rendered.
Sec. 3. The office or institution for high risk detainees shall establish or add rules and regulation in the custody of prisoners. It should be record the time when the detained person was accepted by institution, the name of persons, whose in charged to guard the detained person or detainees, the time and date there were turn over of guards, it should be properly signed and acknowledged by the said personnel who guard the detainee(s) from another cell detention, his transfer from one institution to another.
Sec. 4. Persons, though not in charge of the detainee, who enjoys the higher rank than the custodian of prisoner who shall cause, aid, abet and facilitate the escape of detainee, will suffer the same penalty, the court or tribunal will impose the same in its maximum period. However the court will impose the penalties under this Act, in the degree that will be fair and humane as the case may be.
Sec. 5. To those government official whose involved in a merely detention, it should not give any special treatment, the guard whose in charged of that detainee must be loyal to his duty.
Sec. 6. The government officials who’s found guilty by an open court and give by the court a decision with a life imprisonment should not have given either a parole.
Sec. 7. The suspicious terrorist should put into the detention cell and must be double the security, and cannot be allowed to be free unless the court decided not guilty for the solve of maintenance of peace and order, the protection of life, liberty and property, and the promotion of general welfare which are essential for the enjoyment by all the people of the blessings of democracy in a just and humane society. It should give right penalties for the custody of that suspicious detainee if he would allow freeing.
Sec. 8. this Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days from its publication in at least two news papers of general circulation of the Philippines.

Labels: justice