Padilla seeks to penalize deliberate use of fake addresses in subpoenas
Sen. Robin Padilla speaks during the Blue Ribbon Subcommittee hearing Monday, October 28, 2024 on war against illegal drugs. (File photo from Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Robin Padilla has filed a bill that will penalize the deliberate use of false addresses in the issuance of subpoena.
Violators could face up to P300,000 fine and a jail term of up to two years, as proposed in Senate Bill No. 2890 he filed on Wednesday.
“Any person who shall deliberately provide a false address in the issuance of a subpoena for the purpose of allowing the preliminary investigation to be conducted ex-parte shall suffer a penalty of imprisonment from six months to two years and a fine not less than one P100,000 but not more than P300,000,” read the bill.
In filing the measure, Padilla underscored a person’s right to due process as enshrined in the 1987 Constitution. He said this guarantees all persons’ right to due process before they are deprived of life, liberty, or property.
It ensures that no individual shall be made to answer for a criminal offense without the safeguards of due process, according to the senator.
Article continues after this advertisement“As a procedure that is only preparatory to a trial, due process required in preliminary investigations has been deemed a statutory privilege that is different from the constitutional right to due process,” he pointed out.
“As such, its protection is subject to the provisions of the law by which such [a] right is secured,” he further said.
Padilla noted that even during a preliminary investigation, an accused is already subjected to an “open and public accusation of a crime, with the trouble, expense, anxiety and moral suffering which a criminal prosecution and risk of incarceration always entails.”
“In order to reinforce the protection of the right of an accused against malicious and oppressive prosecution and to protect the state from the possibility of initiating a misguided prosecution that may result [in] a waste of valuable time, effort, and resources, the passage of this measure is earnestly sought,” he then said.
Incidentally, the filing of the measure coincided with the reported procedural defects in the service of a warrant of arrest against .
Her lawyer previously claimed she was not informed of the charges against her beforehand.
Naig was arrested on November 23 and detained at the Pasay City Jail female dormitory for non-bailable syndicated estafa.
After her medical evaluation at a hospital, on Wednesday, but she was reportedly freed upon the order of a Pasay court.
