Prosecutors welcome lifting of filing fees

CEBU public prosecutors welcomed the order of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima lifting the collection of filing fees for complaints.

Department of Justice (DOJ) Circular no. 025 revoked a 2004 circular that required filing fees for a complaint brought before the National Prosecution Service.

Crime victims can now file complaints before the public prosecutors office even if they don’t have money, said Cebu City Chief Prosecutor Nicolas Sellon.

“It’s possible that there were people who wanted but opted not to file a case due to the fees imposed before,” Sellon told Cebu Daily News.

Cebu Provincial Chief Prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba agreed.

“Delivery of justice should be accessible to everyone. It’s not good for a victim of injustice not to pursue a case just because justice is not accessible,” Petralba said in a separate interview yesterday.

The highest fee to be paid was for complaints for violation of the Intellectual Property Law (P5,000), electric pilferage (P2,000) and libel (P1,000). Complaints for illegal recruitment used to require a P100 filing fee.

The downside, however, according to Sellon is that prosecutors are already handling many criminal cases and may get more cases dumped on them especially from those “who have made filing cases their hobby.”

Petralba said that De Lima’s order was timely as the 2004 policy issued by then Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales was temporary.

The filing fees were alllocated as “special allowances” to prosecutors to augment their pay and avoid losing them to lucrative private practices.

“That was a temporary collection. Insofar as the prosecutors are concerned, we now have sufficient salaries so there is no basis for the continued collection,” Petralba said.

Depending on where he or she is assigned, a monthly stipend from the local government unit is given if the town, city or province has a budget for it.

The Cebu city government grants a monthly allowance of P18,000 to city prosecutors while the Capitol distributes P10,000 to provincial prosecutors.

Petralba said all prosecutors also receive P1,200 as inquest allowance every month.

The prosecution of criminal cases is the duty of the state thus the public prosecution service under the DOJ.