I'm Giancarlo Enrico S. Pozon, a Wushu instructor, investor and Barrister... That's right, Barrister; I graduated from law school and took the Bar Exams, now I'm waiting for the results. I created this blog to make Philippine Law easy to understand for the average person. It's all about free legal advice. There are many law blogs. But the problem is that many of them are written for lawyers and law students. They use words that can't be understood by ordinary people.
Many lawyers, judges and law students consider themselves as superior to most human beings because of their knowledge of the law. It bothers me since the law is supposed to serve society. Since the law is meant to serve society as a whole, it is important that is must be understood by everybody.
This does not mean that we should all become lawyers. It means that although law is a highly specialized profession, the first duty of everybody in this profession is to make the law understandable to all; that's why all these articles are free legal advice.
Like I said, this blog is about law -but it's for the ordinary people, not the lawyers. It's for the ordinary folk so they will know what is good and bad for them, and that making them aware of the law will help us all improve society as a whole. This is free legal advice for everybody!
The penalties for violating RA 6981 are the following:
1.) Violation of confidentiality of proceedings for application for witness protection: 1 to 6 years imprisonment and deprivation of the right to hold public office/employment for 5 years
2.) Witness giving false/evasive testimony: penalty for perjury
3. Witness fails/refuses to testify: contempt proceedings but the penalty is 1 month to 1 year imprisonment
4.) Harassment of witnesses: fine of up to Php3,000.00 and/or imprisonment of 6 months to 1 year (and if the harasser is a public official, perpetual disqualification from public office)
Harassment takes place when a witness is prevented, hindered or dissuaded from :
1.) Attending/testifying before a judicial, quasi-judicial or investigative body
2.) Reporting the commission/possible commission of a crime or a violation of conditions of parole, probation, or release pending judicial proceedings (a. k. a. Bail)
3.) Seeking the arrest of another person in connection with the crime in question
4.) Causing a criminal prosecution/proceeding for the revocation of parole or probation
1 comments:
I think the rule regarding harassment of witnesses penalties should be increased! A 3,000 pesos penalty is only a small amount to those usually rich offenders. By the way, I also found interesting source about Philippine laws here: ndvlaw.com.
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