NCJ Number
195935
Date Published
September 2001
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This document discusses substantive extradition law issues and procedures in the Philippines.
Abstract
The Philippines has extradition treaties with Australia, Canada, the Federated States of Micronesia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Switzerland, the United States, and the Kingdom of Thailand, and treaties on mutual legal assistance on criminal matters with Australia and the United States. Extradition is governed by Presidential Decree No. 1069, and by the applicable extradition treaty in force. The law provides that the Secretary of Foreign Affairs has the first opportunity to make a determination on whether the request complies with the requirements of the law. The petitioner must establish a prima facie case. For crimes covered by treaty, the Philippines adopts both the listing approach, where specific crimes are enumerated; and the dual criminality, where the crime in the two countries need not be the same. The breakdown of extradition requests shows that the Philippines receives most requests from the United States. The Philippines sends most of its requests to the United States. Most of the objections raised against extradition are constitutional ones, including human rights, denial of due process, and ex post facto. Provisional arrest can be granted but the period of detention is only 20 days. An issue that arises once an accused has been provisionally arrested is the question of bail. Bail exists as a matter of discretion. There is no definitive Philippine jurisprudence on this issue as all the cases regarding bail in extradition are pending in different courts. There is no clear jurisprudence on the matter of politically motivated extradition. Philippine law allows the extradition of its nationals subject to the usual exceptions as contained in the relevant treaties. Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties(MLATs) are used in order to aid government prosecutors in gathering evidence located overseas even at the investigatory stage. Most requests for legal assistance involve having to examine bank records. Case studies are provided for cooperation with Japan on extradition issues. Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance in the Philippines is still at the early stage with little local jurisprudence or writings on the subject. 10 references