DEC.

15, 2011 DATE

NR # 2618
REF. NO.

House approves bill seeking temporary release of indigent persons who are facing criminal cases
The House of Representatives today approved on third reading a bill allowing the release from prison of indigent persons who are facing bailable criminal offenses but are not capable of paying the required bails. House Bill 5395, to be known as the Recognizance Act of 2011, was reported out for plenary approval by the House Committee on Justice chaired by Rep. Neil C. Tupas Jr. (5th District, Iloilo City). There are a great number of persons who have the right to bail but end up being deprived of this basic constitutional right and are detained during trial simply because they do not have the financial means to post the bail required by law, said Rep. Rodolfo Farias (1 st District, Ilocos Norte), one of the authors of the bill. This is a classic case of injustice that victimizes only the poor and smacks of the social justice mandate of our Constitution, Farias said. Farias said the bill seeks to establish a missing but vital component of the judicial system by allowing the depressed sector of our society to be equal with all others in terms of enjoying liberty while the State proves their guilt in the commission of an offense. It is therefore, the noble purpose of this bill to give the poor more of the law by affording them right to be released on recognizance while their cases are pending in court, Farias said. Under the measure, a person charged for a criminal offense punishable with not more than six years imprisonment, death, reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment and does not have the means to put up sufficient bond or security to avail of the constitutional right to bail, may be released, even before conviction. Furthermore, the measure requires the detained indigent person to submit a certification from the barangay chairman, head of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and a resolution adopted by the Sangguniang Bayan or Panlungsod duly approved by the Mayor ensuring that a beneficiary of the proposed law does not have the financial capacity to post bail by sufficient securities. Two persons of good repute and probity need to make an affidavit in favor of the detained person as well as a report or recommendation from the newly created Recognizance Field Office. The bill provides for the creation of the Office of the Deputy Administrator for Recognizance, Recognizance Office in the Parole and Probation Administration Central Office and in every Regional Office, thereof, the Recognizance Field Office, and the Provincial and City Chief Recognizance Officers. The co-authors of the bill are Reps. Teddy Casio and Neri Javier Colmenares (Party List, Bayan Muna), Luzviminda Ilagan and Emerenciana De Jesus (Party List, Gabriela), Rafael Mariano (Party List, Anakpawis), Raymond Palatino (Party List, Kabataan), Antonio Tinio (Party List, ACT-Teachers) and Neil C. Tupas, Jr. (5th District, Iloilo) and Joseph Gilbert Violago (2nd District, Nueva Ecija). (30) jsc