Guevarra taking up DOJ wish list with successor Remulla

Cavite 7th District Rep. Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla. From Facebook

Carry on the review of President Duterte’s drug war and uphold human rights in accordance with a joint agreement with the United Nations.

Outgoing Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said he would take up these and other recommendations when he meets with his designated successor, Cavite Rep. Jesus Crispin Remulla, next Thursday.

President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on May 23 nominated Remulla to the Department of Justice (DOJ), saying “I think he’ll be very good. He has a great many years of experience in government. He’s a very, very good lawyer. He will fit very nicely into the DOJ.”

Guevarra on Friday said he and other DOJ officials would see Remulla on June 9 to brief the incoming secretary on the department’s operations and programs since April 2018, when Guevarra was appointed to the department.

“We shall ensure a smooth and orderly transition at the DOJ,” the outgoing justice chief said.

Prison reforms, trafficking

Guevarra said he would recommend that the department “maintain our excellent record in antihuman trafficking.”

According to him, the DOJ-led Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking helped the country keep its Tier 1 ranking in the US Department of State’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report, the latest of which was released last year.

A US federal law, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, classifies global efforts to stop human trafficking according to three tiers.

Under Tier 1 are countries that have met the law’s minimum standards for eliminating trafficking.

Countries that have made significant efforts to comply with the TVPA are under Tier 2, and countries that have not met the law’s minimum standards and have not significantly reduced human trafficking are under the lowest classification of Tier 3.

Guevarra also said the DOJ should continue to push for the enactment of a law that would help improve coordination between law enforcement agencies and the judiciary.

‘Logical conclusion’

He then recommended transferring New Bilibid Prison (NBP) from its present location in Muntinlupa City to another site, setting up prison facilities per region in order to decongest NBP, and introducing reforms that would help professionalize the Bureau of Corrections. The outgoing secretary suggested further that the DOJ “digitize all [its] prison records,” including completing its Inmate Management Information System.

Guevarra said he would also ask his successor to strengthen the government’s campaign against cybercrime and lobby for the enactment of a law that would modernize the Bureau of Immigration.

Another recommendation would be for the DOJ to continue its Joint Programme on Human Rights with the United Nations—a three-year commitment which the department entered into last year on the government’s behalf.

In a statement at that time, the DOJ said it will pursue, together with the UN, “technical cooperation and capacity building” in such areas as “improved data-gathering on alleged human rights violations by police personnel”; “expanding civil space and engagement” with the Commission on Human Rights, “civil society and [other] national human rights institutions”; and “implementing a human rights-based approach toward drug control.”

The department has also been conducting a review of the government’s drug war, which has so far led to the prosecution of 154 policemen for the deaths of 52 drug suspects.

Human rights advocates have said this was just a fraction of the estimated 30,000 who have been killed in the course of that campaign since 2016, the start of Mr. Duterte’s administration.

Nevertheless Guevarra said “We’ll recommend to the incoming SOJ (secretary of justice) [that he] pursue the drug war review to its logical conclusion.”

Last week Marcos said Mr. Duterte had advised him to continue that campaign but “do it your own way,” as he quoted the outgoing president as telling him.

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