CAMARINES Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte has filed a bill seeking stiffer penalties against persons of authority found to be facilitating or ordering the destruction or concealment of vital evidence in heinous crimes.
Villafuerte filed House Bill (HB) No. 7972 seeking to amend Article 19 of the Penal Code to impose a longer jail term of reclusion temporal or 12 to 20 years on “hoodlums in uniform” who are found guilty of such offenses in heinous crime cases, like drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping and rape.
While persons in authority, particularly the police, are charged with the maintenance of public order and the protection and security of life and property, Villafuerte said there are instances when they are the ones who facilitate or order the destruction or concealment of vital evidence used in heinous crimes.
HB 7972 seeks to amend Article 19 of the Revised Penal Code by adding this paragraph: “Where the offense is a heinous crime under existing laws and is committed by persons in authority, they shall suffer the penalty of one degree lower than that prescribed by the law for the consummated felony.”
At present, the Penal Code imposes a jail sentence of 20 to 40 years on those found guilty of committing heinous crimes.
As for accessories to heinous crimes, they are slapped under the Penal Code with a penalty of two degrees lower than that prescribed by the law against the principal offenders, hence, the prison sentence of six to 12 years.
If HB 7972 becomes a law and the penalty on accessories to heinous offenses is raised to one degree instead of the current two degrees lower than the principal offenders, then the guilty ones will be slapped the penalty of reclusion temporal.
Republic Act (RA) 7659 includes among heinous crimes the offenses of importation, distribution, manufacture and possession of illegal drugs; treason, rape, qualified bribery, murder, parricide and infanticide; piracy and mutiny on the high seas in Philippine waters, destructive arson, kidnapping and serious illegal detention, and robbery with violence against or intimidation of persons.
