DAVAO CITY, Philippines—A proposal to strip the Department of Justice (DOJ) of supervision over the Witness Protection Program (WPP) and transfer it to courts is creating a stir among lawmakers and lawyers opposed to it.
Rep. Karlo Nograles (Davao City, 1st District) has opposed the proposal to transfer the WPP from the DOJ to the courts, saying doing so will threaten the impartiality of the courts.
“I believe the proposal (to transfer WPP to the courts) would create problems in our justice system,” Nograles said of a bill, authored by Leyte Rep. Sergio Apostol, which seeks to strip the DOJ of jurisdiction over the WPP.
In a statement, lawyer Abraham Espejo said removing the WPP from the DOJ would weaken the department.
“Obviously, if the Witness Protection Program will be stripped from the DOJ, it will immensely weaken and affect its exercise of investigative powers and case buildup,” said Espejo.
DOJ domain
Espejo said instead of being transferred to regular courts, the WPP under the DOJ should be enhanced.
According to Espejo, the WPP bolstered the justice department’s investigative powers to swiftly act on serious cases with the help of vital witnesses who need immunity from suit to be able to turn state witnesses.
“In granting immunity, a distinction should be made,” said Espejo.
“If the immunity is granted before the filing of the case, it is the sole prerogative of the DOJ,” he said.
“However, if the case has already been filed in court, the grant of immunity and admission into the program is only recommendatory on the part of the government prosecutors, which is subject to the approval of the court,” he added.
Apostol’s bill is now in the House committee on justice.
“The Witness Protection Program rightly belongs to the DOJ primarily because they are the prosecutorial arm of government,” said Nograles.
He said as prosecutors, the DOJ presents witnesses in court, so they have the right to protect their own witnesses.
Damning accused
“If you transfer the WPP to the courts, you are damning the accused, who will already be good as convicted,” he said in a text message to the Inquirer on Thursday.
“Imagine if the witnesses are placed under the protection of the court, then the courts will naturally be biased in favor of the witnesses,” he said.
He said it is better to “keep the witnesses under the protection of the prosecutors to keep the courts isolated from politics.”
“Let the courts keep its neutrality so that when the prosecutors present their protected witness and place them on the witness stand, the courts can freely judge, bias-free and politics-free, whether or not to believe the testimony of that witness,” Nograles said. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao