Bill seeks to transfer witness protection program to courts

Leyte Representative Sergio Apostol. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA—The government’s program to protect witnesses to crimes and irregularities should be insulated from politics and its implementation should be undertaken by the proper court, not the Department of Justice, according to Leyte Rep. Sergio Apostol.

Apostol said the appropriate court would formulate a Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Program and could call upon any department, bureau, office or any executive agency to help in its implementation. He filed early this month a bill seeking to transfer the Witness Protection Program to the courts.

The executive offices would be mandated to provide assistance, he added.

The DOJ currently handles the Witness Protection Program, but Apostol said this would open it to possible political conflict.

The WPP safeguards the security of whistle-blowers and other witnesses who could boost or prove the government’s cases against criminality or corruption.

At present, its most high-profile members include the whistle-blowers in the pork barrel controversy.

“The program is built on political control because the Department of Justice is under the control and supervision of the executive branch of government. When cases the DOJ are prosecuting conflict with the interests of the executive and its officials, the implementation of the program is detrimentally affected,” he said in a note to his bill.

Because of this, applications to enter the program which would undermine the government will likely be rejected, Apostol said.

The bill seeks to amend the Witness Protection Act. It states that the proper court would take over other aspects of the WPP, including assisting the witness in securing a means of livelihood and providing the witness with financial assistance.

The court would also be tasked with evaluating applicants and admitting them into the program.

Apostol’s bill, however, conflicts with a measure approved by the House committee on justice which seeks to set up a witness protection bureau under the DOJ to strengthen the program and allow witnesses a change of personal identity at government expense.