ZTE witness Jun Lozada and the immigration watchlist: But not yet leaving on a jet plane

Photo by David Bases. Saturn Sixth Planet from the Sun.  Used here for  educational, non-commercial purposes, free service by blog-use of image provided by and from www.allposters.com

        Without a court order, the most that the Bureau of Immigration and Department of Justice can do against the travel plans of a person who has a complaint against him, is to put that person on its watchlist.

      People have the constitutional right, “within the limits prescribed by law”,  of “liberty of abode and of changing the same” except upon “lawful order of the court” (Art. III, Sec. 6). Under the same section, the Constitution says the right to travel shall not be impaired except by law.

           “Liberty of abode and of changing the same” means that a person can change residence and choose to live wherever he/ she decides to, whether here or abroad, as long as no law is violated thereby (of course, if not in his/ her country of origin, he/ she is required to have the necessary visas). Only a court order can prohibit one from changing residence. Court order means HDO or a hold-departure order, emanating from a judge. Judge means RTC judge or MTC judge or a justice of the CA or SC. It does not mean justice secretary, who has no authority to issue an HDO, only a judge can do that.  

         A judge issues an HDO on motion of the prosecution against an accused charged of a crime. This means that the person subject of the HDO should have been already formally charged in court. Being the subject of a preliminary investigation does not constitute being charged in court. But, yes, if the DOJ or NBI, thinks that very soon  you would be criminally charged, and here, the evidence should be shown to them by the complainant, they could put you on the immigration watchlist. It’s administrative in nature. 

        In the situation at hand however,  isn’t Jun Lozada the complainant in the kidnapping and attempted murder cases he filed against Avelino Razon and Lito Atienza? I understand that the latter two filed counter-charges against him for, i guess, perjury?

          As a sign of  fairness and professionalism, shouldn’t Avelino Razon and Lito Atienza be also put on the immigration watchlist?  But when was Raul Gonzales ever fair and professional? He is at Gloria’s bidding.  

            The most impact that being on the watchlist has is delay: at the airport, when the person tries to check with the immigration booth, his/ her name will pop out of the computer database of the immigration officer, and he/ she would be momentarily held while the immigration officer informs the “authorities” (the DOJ, the NBI, etc.) that the person is about to depart. The purpose of that is for those agencies to be able to check, if finally, a criminal charge has been filed agaisnt the person and an HDO issued.  But without an HDO in the peson’s name, he/ she cannot be legally prohibited from leaving; just delayed enough (so that he/ she would miss his/ her scheduled flight until he/ she could get an injunction.) It’s a hassle and becomes a form of harassment when not applied fairly and to all persons subject of a criminal complaint.   

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 From professor X   in  Are you a stockholder of MERALCO (Manila Electric Company)? : Proxy War 101, 2008/05/16 at 9:56 AM

       Quote “ Thank you Atty Marichu for the info. 

      Quote “I have same shares of stock and I am giving these to the current management of meralco. I would rather trust the Lopezez and their managers (who may be called for government hearings, anyway) than the cronies of the present administration who can hide behind executive privilege, have immunity against government inquisitions and who are motivated only by their greed for power and money.” Closed-quote.

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      From Adrian in  The Start of the Meralco Saga (Manila Electric Company: electric power distributor), 2008/05/13 at 12:33 PM

      Quote “there’s the perception or maybe a fact that government owned corporations are most likely be mismanaged. Meralco can operate as a private entity, the government, not sure if ERC is the appropriate institution should just do a thorough and regular audit of Meralco. there’s also the senate committe on government franchises to do investigations.” Closed-quote.