SEN. Robin Padilla has filed a bill which seeks to penalize persons who deliberately provide false addresses to subvert the issuance of subpoenas and deprive suspects of due process.
In filing Senate Bill No. 2890, or the proposed Act Penalizing the Deliberate Use of False Address in the Issuance of Subpoena, Padilla noted that there have been instances when an aggrieved party intentionally provides the court with a fictitious address of a suspect so the prosecutor will think that the suspect is in hiding.
Such a move, he said, deprives the accused of the right to due process due to the wrong information given by the complainant.
He pointed out that the Constitution guarantees the right of all persons to due process before they are deprived of life, liberty, or property.
He likewise said that the Charter “ensures that no individual shall be made to answer for a criminal offense without the safeguards of due process.”
“It has been held in various cases that criminal due process requires that the procedure established by law or the rules be followed to ensure that only the guilty is deprived of life or liberty,” he stressed.
Padilla said the bill aims to protect the right of the accused against “malicious and oppressive prosecution” and “protect the state from potentially initiating a misguided prosecution.”
Under the proposed measure, any person who will deliberately provide a false address for the issuance of a subpoena “for the purpose of allowing a preliminary investigation to be conducted ex-parte” shall be meted with an imprisonment of six months to two years, and shall be fined a minimum of P100,000 but not more than P300,000.
