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Wednesday, October 06, 2004
DOJ can’t suspend filing fees: Gonzales
EVEN if they want to, the Department of Justice (DOJ) cannot and will not suspend the law imposing fees in filing criminal complaints with the different prosecutor’s offices.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales said they cannot stop the collection because it is a law that only Congress can either amend or abolish.
“The DOJ can’t suspend what the law has provided for. What we can probably do is review the amounts of the fees,” Gonzales said.
Regional State Prosecutor Antonio Arellano, however, told Sun.Star that not all cases require filing fees.
Arellano said only cases such as libel, oral defamation, qualified theft, electric pilferage, illegal recruitment and violations of the bouncing check law and intellectual property rights law are in the list of cases that require filing fees.
The collection of filing fees is stipulated in Republic Act 9279 or the Public Prosecutors Compensation Act.
Dilemma
While the cases covered may be limited, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB) Chief Pablo Labra II still sees this as a problem.
Labra admitted that the imposition of filing fees on criminal cases would have an effect on their work.
“We have a hard time convincing victims to file cases against snatchers and robbers. How much more if they have to pay filing fees?” Labra told reporters yesterday.
Police investigators often persuade victims of snatching and robbery to file cases against criminals to prevent them from victimizing others again.
Labra said that as much as possible, they want all these arrested robbers jailed.
But with the collection of filing fees, Labra fears policemen might be demoralized.
Defer
Gonzales said in a radio dyLA interview yesterday that the rules and regulations he made exempts the poor from the fees ranging from P150 to P1,000.
“If they have any objection to the law, they better ask their Congressmen to draft another bill which would amend (the existing law) which allows the DOJ to collect fees in order to augment the salaries and allowances of prosecutors,” Gonzales added.
But Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu City chapter president Democrito Barcenas said the justice department can defer the implementation of the law.
“We know that their authority comes from that law but they can do something about it. Actually, they may or may not implement the law now, considering that the imposition of fees is not in consonance with the present social and economic conditions,” Barcenas said.
He added that among the options left for them is to file a petition with the Supreme Court (SC) to declare the law unconstitutional and illegal.
Like what they did during their protest against the increase in legal fees, Barcenas said the IBP can call all the leaders of different law organizations for a possible mass action.
Understand issue
But Arellano said that before the IBP starts criticizing them, they should first understand the whole issue.
Arellano explained that RA 9279 was signed into law so a special allowance could be provided to prosecutors after noting that some prosecutors left their posts for better paying jobs in other agencies or private companies.
“This is not a money-making venture. This is being done to save the (prosecution) service,” he said.
He pointed out that most of those who file complaints for violation of the bouncing checks law are “using prosecutors as collectors” and that it was only fair for them to collect fees as a way to “help the public” by giving better service.
Arellano added that the fees were not even “exorbitant” as a case for reckless imprudence would cost a complainant P200 while a complaint for violation of the bouncing checks law is only worth P150.
Gonzales, for his part, said that as long as the law exists, they will implement it.
“Neither the IBP nor the DOJ can be over and above the law passed in Congress. They can question the constitutionality of it, and go to the Supreme Court. But even the SC have increased their fees also,” Gonzales said.
Gonzales also said that while it may be true that victims of crimes will suffer another blow by asking them to pay for filing a certain case, he said the new law will discourage filing of cases that are only meant to harass an individual. (GN/MEA)
(October 6, 2004 issue)
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