HOUSE Minority Leader Edcel Lagman on Monday sought legislation to uphold the constitutional right to travel and prohibit “delegated government agencies headed by presidential political appointees” who succumb to partisan pressures or defer to political importunings at the expense of civil liberties, from violating that right.
In House Bill 5111, or the Right to Travel Act of 2011, Lagman said any restriction or limitation to basic constitutional rights must be adjudicated and imposed by the proper judicial forum with strict observance of due process.
In his explanatory note, Lagman also scored the indiscriminate inclusion of a person’s name in the so-called Watch-list Order (WLO) which he likened to “a rogues’ gallery, a roll of infamy and scroll of criminals whose movements have to be monitored to avert flight from justice.”
“Arbitrary inclusion in the WLO is virtual incarceration by innuendo and conviction by publicity,” said Lagman.
The opposition leader said that the indiscriminate inclusion of a person’s name in the WLO even prior to the filing of a formal complaint with the prosecutor’s office and finding of a probable cause to support indictment or before the filing of charges in court, “besmirches such person’s reputation, convicts before trial and criminalizes alleged acts without due process.”
Under Lagman’s bill, the WLO shall not be used as the basis for holding or preventing the travel of the accused or respondent unless there is a Hold Departure Order (HDO) duly issued with finality by the court.
As embodied in the bill, the Department of Justice (DOJ) or the Bureau of Immigration (BI), shall assure that only accused or respondents are included on the WLO after a preliminary hearing determining that their inclusion in the interest of national security, public safety and public health.
Lagman noted that the recent inclusion of some personalities in the WLO, while others facing investigation or prosecution are spared, “demands the forthwith enactment of a law as envisioned by the Constitution, to fully protect the right to travel and provide judicious standards on the restriction and limitation of such right.”
Section 8 of the bill said that an HDO shall be lifted automatically by the court once the accused is acquitted, the preliminary investigation is terminated with the dismissal of the complaint, when the applicant, the DOJ or the BI desists or withdraws the application and the HDO has expired two years after it has become final and executor.
