MANILA, Philippines – Numerous lawmakers are pushing for legislation that would provide free legal assistance to men and women in uniform who are facing charges before courts, prosecutor’s offices, and other bodies.
Many of the bills stipulate that legal offices of the respective agencies should assist their embattled officers within 24 hours from the official receipt of the information that the personnel is charged with.Lawmakers point out that some men in uniform cannot afford the cost of legal services. “Military personnel being harassed is not the normal situation. In fact, civilians are the ones afraid to file a case [against uniformed personnel],” she said.Government agencies in the security cluster are fully supportive of the proposal, as they say that current laws do not allow their legal offices to represent their personnel in criminal proceedings.
“It is possible that although the commission of the offense against the PNP personnel was during the performance of his official duty, it is not service-related,” Cavite 4th District Representative Elpidio Barzaga Jr. added.The proposed measures say funds necessary to implement the legislation must be included in the government’s annual national budget, charged either against the appropriation of agencies involved, or from the Legal Defense Fund.
“This is [a] public fund [so it’s concerning] if there are many cases that need to be attended to and if we need massive budget for it,” Castro said.If the committees adopt HB 8, the heads of AFP, BFP, BJMP, PCG and PNP will be tasked to revise staffing patterns of their legal offices, in requests that they shall make to the DBM.
Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)
I don't believe this. They are prone to charges because they are not doing their job right, they abuse their authority, and they don't have good moral characters. Because starting from the selection process itself, the system is mired in corruption...