The Prosecutor (SAGE Criminal Justice System Annuals)
Signed last Friday, the IRR puts flesh into Republic Act 10071 or the Prosecution Service Act, which aims to strengthen the government's war on criminality and ease the perennial backlog in criminal cases at the Department of Justice (DoJ), through the creation of the NPS in charge of the preliminary investigation and prosecution of all criminal cases.
The would-be NPS will comprise the prosecutors currently assigned at the DoJ central offices and its various regional, provincial and city offices nationwide, as well as the new ones that the department will hire to beef up its national prosecution team.
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To increase plantilla positions, Agra said the IRR carries out the law's provision on the automatic creation of positions of assistant and associate prosecutors in provincial and/or city NPS offices whenever new courts or branches are created in these areas.
Agra said the IRR of the new law also provides for the mechanism for the grant by local governments of allowances to prosecutors assigned to their localities - but not to exceed 50 percent of their basic salaries - as an incentive for the NPS lawyers.
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Also last Friday, Agra signed a DoJ circular covering the investigation and prosecution of human trafficking cases and another exempting poor litigants being defended by the department's Public Attorneys' Office (PAO) from paying litigation fees to the courts.
Also signed by Agra were two more circulars covering uniform guidelines on the issuance of special non-immigrant visas to foreign nationals working in the Philippines, and on the endorsement to the Supreme Court of the proposed rule on the speedy disposition of anti-human trafficking cases.
Under Agra's circular on human trafficking cases, investigating prosecutors are directed to prepare the resolution and charge sheet for violation of Republic Act 2005 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 as soon as they find probable cause in these cases.
Upon the issuance of subpoenas to respondents in the preliminary investigations or upon the start of inquests, the investigating officers are required to report these cases to the Secretariat of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Once resolutions approving or disapproving the actions of the investigating officers are issued by the investigating prosecutors, the latter are directed to report such actions to the IACAT.
As for the aid to poor litigants, another Agra circular reiterated a DoJ policy that PAO clients are exempted from the payment of docket and other fees required by courts and other quasi-judicial bodies.
The PAO should no longer assess the filing fees of its clients, stressed Agra in the resolution in response to reports of the alleged refusal of certain prosecutors' offices to exempt PAO clients from paying docket fees or to require them to submit documents before they are granted exemption from such fee payments.
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Agra also approved the uniform guidelines on the issuance of special non-immigrant visas to foreign nationals working in the country as, among others, consultants, specialists, contractors, exchange professors and students as well as their dependents.
The only requirements for these applicants are their passports that are valid for at least six months at the time of filing of their applications, Certificate of Registration issued by the appropriate agency sponsoring each applicant, and the Contract or Agreement between the sponsor-company of each foreign national applying for the visa and the government or private firm, or the appointment of the foreign national by the host organization, institution or foundation.
The evaluating counsel for each applicant is required to submit his or her draft action document on the application within two working days from the submission of the same application complete with all documentary requirements and payment of legal fees.
As spelled out in the IRR on RA 10071, an initial P50 million will be set aside from DOJ funds for organizational and operational expenses of the would-ne NPS.
''The IRR puts flesh into RA 10071 that aims to beef up the government's criminal prosecution arm by empowering the would-be NPS to hire more people so the DOJ can assign more prosecutors and other prosecution officers to provinces and cities,'' Agra said.
''Deploying more prosecutors in the field will enable the DOJ to speed up the prosecution of new and long-pending cases and thus address the perennial backlog in cases at the Department,'' he added.
RA 10071 was signed by President Arroyo last April 6. Under this law, the NPS shall be headed by a prosecutor-general (previously called the chief state prosecutor) who will be assisted by five senior deputy state prosecutors and five deputy state prosecutors.
