High court asks DoJ to justify travel restrictions on ex-Pagcor chief Genuino
QUESTIONABLE CHECKS. INQUIRER.net is given copies of a series of checks issued by Pagcor under its then chairman Efraim Genuino to the Batang Iwas Droga (BIDA) Foundation and paraphernalia used by BIDA for its various campaigns, including its participation in the 2010 elections as a partylist group. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
MANILA, Philippines – It looks like former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) chairman Efraim Genuino and his children cannot leave the country as yet after the Supreme Court ordered the Department of Justice to justify foreign travel restrictions it has imposed on the Genuinos.
In a minute resolution dated Aug. 23, 2011 but released Wednesday, the Supreme Court asked Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, Chief State Counsel Ricardo Paras and current Pagcor chief Cristino Nuguiat as well as the Bureau of Immigration to comment on Genuino’s petition for certiorari and prohibition within 10 days.
The court said the resolution was issued “without giving due course to the petition” by Genuino for a temporary restraining order against the HDO.
But although the high tribunal did not categorically state that the HDO would be implemented, a source privy to the deliberations but wasn’t authorized to talk to the media said that the resolution would have the same effect.
In his 27-page petition, aside from asking for a restraining order, Genuino also asked the high court to declare as null and void circular no. 041-10 for being unconstitutional because it violated the people’s right to due process.
The DoJ circular issued June 7, 2010 was the consolidated rules and regulations governing the issuances and implementation of hold departure orders, watchlist orders, and allow departure orders.
The circular, among others, allows the Secretary of Justice to issue HDOs “against any person, either motu proprio, or upon the request by the Head of a Department of the Government; the head of a constitutional body or commission; the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for the Judiciary; the Senate President or the House Speaker for the Legislature, when the adverse party is the Government or any of its agencies or instrumentalities, or in the interest of national security, public safety or public health.”
Genuino said in his petition that the circular “is an exercise of arbitrary power, enforcing its edicts to the injury of the persons and property of the citizens. This cannot be considered as valid law.”
“It is respectfully submitted that Circular No. 041-10 is a tool for abuse as an HDO can be issued by the mere filing of a criminal complaint even in the absence of a finding of probable cause or a showing that there exists a threat to national security, public health or public safety,” he added.
In his case, Genuino said they were neither informed that an application for an HDO was filed against them nor were they given an opportunity to be heard.
Also included in the hold departure order were Genuino’s children Erwin, who ran for the mayoralty race in Makati, and Sheryl Genuino-See, the representative of Batang Iwas Droga (BIDA) partylist.
Sought for comment, De Lima welcomed the high court’s decision not to grant Genuino’s prayer for a TRO.
“Of course, that’s a good development for us. That means the court sees that there’s no need to restrain because we will have to defend our position through the comment of the DoJ,” she told reporters.
Genuino is facing a string of plunder cases before the DoJ – the first over the alleged illegal disbursement of about P26.7 million for the production of the 2008 movie “Baler”; the second complaint was over the allegedly anomalous release of funding assistance worth P34 million to the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association, Inc. (PASA) beginning 2007; third, plunder complaint involving the alleged misappropriation of at least P186 million in questionable transactions benefited Batang Iwas Droga (BIDA) foundation and other entities from 2003 to 2010; and fourth, alleged malversation through use of rice donations intended for typhoon victims in electioneering activities.
