Genuino asks DoJ to lift hold departure order

MANILA, Philippines–Former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) chairman Ephraim Genuino asked the Department of Justice (DoJ) to order the lifting of the hold departure order issued against him and his two children.

The HDO was issued by the Bureau of Immigration last July 22 upon order of the DoJ through Chief State Counsel Ricardo Paras. The order bars Genuino, his children Erwin, who ran for the mayoralty race in Makati and Sheryl Genuino-See, the representative of Batang Iwas Droga (BIDA) partylist and several others from leaving the country unless lifted by the DoJ.

Lawyer Ramon Esguerra said the HDO should be lifted for having no basis and having been released without due notice and process.

Claiming the agency violated his clients’ right to travel guaranteed by the 1987 Constitution, Esguerra said “we respectfully request that your good Office lift the HDO issued against our clients within 15 days from your receipt hereof.”

“Should we not hear from you within this period, we shall consider your inaction as a denial of our herein request and make us free to seek the necessary legal remedies therefrom,” Esguerra’s letter to Paras said.

Esguerra added that the DoJ also violated his client’s right, as a person facing criminal prosecution, to due process and to be presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a proper court of law.

“In both of these cases, it is clear that there is still no finding of probable cause against our clients,” Esguerra said, referring to the malversation of public funds and violation of Republic Act No. 3019 filed by the present Pagcor leadership against his clients.

In addition, Esguerra said the subject HDO was issued only against his clients and seven other respondents notwithstanding the fact that there are 27 other respondents in the alleged malversation charge.

“This is pure discrimination and a blatant defilement of our clients’ basic constitutional right to equal protection,” he said.

He also took note of the manner in which the HDO was issued as it was released on the very same day the application of Pagcor for its issuance was submitted to the DoJ for consideration.

Genuinos’ legal counsel also cited Supreme Court Circular No. 39-37, which provides that HDOs shall be issued only in criminal cases within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Regional Trial Courts so as to avoid indiscriminate issuance of HDOs because they constitute an infringement on the right and liberty of an individual to travel.