February 5, 2021
Moderated by Usec. Rocky Ignacio (PCOO) and Aljo Bendijo (PTV-4):
Sec. Menardo Guevarra, DOJ:
I was in a meeting when the oral arguments happened but to my understanding, much of the discussion focused on certain preliminary or procedural matters such as for example. the judicial hierarchy...
We understand in particular that Justice Leonen questioned, raised the issue if whether the matter is right for our adjudication. Kung merong actual na damage or injury that already happened or is this something that can be resolve with the court.
We have seen in doon pa lang sa preliminary issues na yon ay mayroon nang mga fireworks.
But first and foremost, the petitioners should overcome the procedural issues that are being raised by the justice and Supreme Court.
'Yong sinasabing vagueness or ambiguity in the law itself is somewhat parang nabigyan ng lunas o remedy by the IRR that was crafted by an inter-agency group led by the DOJ.
So we leave it to the SC to resolve whether the alleged vagueness is actually being remedied by the IRR. Let's wait until that certain issue comes.
My understanding regarding facial challengers is that it is on the face of the law itself ay makikita agad ang kanyang invalidity,not the entire law but on certain provisions.
Normally, ang situation is you don't normally go to court unless there is an actual controversy na kailangan mong iharap sa husgado. Halimbawa, may actual damage has already been inflicted upon the complainant or petitioner.
Otherwise, kung wala pang actual na injury or damage, wala pang cause of action na tinatawag. Kaya normally hindi pa 'yan isinasampa sa court.
There is only one situation where wala pang breach or wala pang violation pero pwede nang i-file sa court. 'Yon ang tinatawag na petition for declaratory relief. But hindi ito 'yong petitions before the SC.
Iyong facial challenge, iyon ang allegations ng petitioners na on the very face of the law itself, makikita naman na may invalid or unconstitutional na provisions. So let's see how the SC will look at that.
On the case of Aetas: Ang intindi ko riyan ay mayroong motion for intervention kasi these 2 natives are hindi pa actual parties to the case. That's why they are intervening.
And they're saying that in fact because of this law ay nagkaroon na nga sila ng injuries suffered kaya parang ito ang contention in support of the position na mayroon nang injuries, mayroon ng damage.
And therefore, the SC may consider the petitions now, hindi na magiging issue 'yong facial challenge because right now, ay mayroong mga individuals saying that they were actually injured or damaged by the law. But that is a contention. The court will resolve kung papayagan ang kanilang intervention.
There is an intention to express to file a complaint so maybe as a matter of propriety and prudence, my position as Secretary of Justice prevents me from commenting.
Kasi 'yong mga ganyang kaso na makakarating sa DOJ ay iimbestigahan ng mga prosecutors. Walang involvement sa determination ng probable cause ang DOJ Secretary.
Ang mangyayari riyan kapag ang agreed party ay hindi happy sa naging resolution ng prosecutor, that's the time that an appeal may be headed to the Secretary of Justice (SOJ) kaya ang SOJ ang may last say kung ifafile sa court ang criminal case.
Kaya as much as possible, kapag may mga ganyang controversy at pagfifile ng complaint or a counter-complaint, I refused to make a comment because I might prejudge something that may be brought before me pagdating sa dulo. I hope you understand me.
On UP-DND Accord Termination: Alam ninyo ang contending parties dito 'yong para parties in dispute regarding the validity of the agreement between UP and DND and AFP. Parehong government instrumentalities 'yan e. UP is a state university and of course the other party, DND is a deparment under the executive deparment.
So 'pag may ganyang controversy under the administrative quo ay they have to settle either it before themselves or bring it before the DOJ for administrative settlement or adjudication.
Again, because of my situation that I may be call upon to resolve this case, I will have to decline to make any preliminary comments at this time.
This rose because of the request of the DA which the DA manifested in the last cabinet meeting requesting the creation of a sub-task group within the national task force on COVID-19 on economic intelligence dahil nga sa mga nangyayari na current shortage or sudden spike on the price sa basic food (products).
So because of that I directed the NBI to start preparing.
I suppose that the President will approve that recommendation for the creation of that sub-task group because that is a very important step to take at this time and the DOJ and NBI will provide full support for the investigation of the situation.
If there is a cartel or there is a group manipulating the supply and pricing of basic food (products) then the NBI will surely focus on the existence of such group or syndicate or cartel.
There is a very strong possibility na manipulated ang supply and consequently the pricing of basic food stuff. We will get into that investigation.
Last December, we submitted our initial report to the president... Ang subject matter of the review panel ay iyong mga namatay sa illegal drug operations ng law enforcers natin.
The DOJ-led group selected certain pilot areas muna for the initial investigation.
Pinili namin ang areas na concentrated or heavy ang number of incidents pertaining to parang namatay because of drug operations.
We made several recommendations in the report. Nando'n tayo sa stage na tayo ngayon.
We provided a copy of the report where we made certain findings, not so flattering against certain police enforcement officers involved sa drug operations. We gave the PNP sufficient time to comment.
At the proper time, we will share our finding with the public, with the media.
But we will also include actions that we intend to take arising from these findings.
Iyong mga hindi natapos na investigation sa PhilHealth anomalies ay na-cover na, inabsorb na nitong panibagong task force on anti-corruption.
Ang NBI has filed with the OMB and with the DOJ at least 8 cases, 2 of them involved sa IRM. In the NCR, the amount involved is P2.7 billion
Also filed with the OMB ay certain fraudulent claims in Cebu, involving a private hospital.
So far, as of yesterday, itong task force against corruption ay mayroon nang na-receive na 185 complaints from the public and from other agencies.
Inaalis namin ang hindi pang-corruption issue at we have retained 166 corruption cases.
Diyan sa total number na iyan na na-refer sa task force, 58 so far are being evaluated... We have taken action to at least 36.
According to the spokesperson of the NBI... they are winding up their investigation.
As far as I know, natapos na ang kanilang forensic examination. Mayroon na silang toxicology report. But the NBI is trying to be as thorough as possible
Mayroon pa silang hinahanap na certain other witnesses na hindi pa nakakapag-testify.
Ang gagawin ng investigating prosecutor sa Makati ay ipatawag at magpatawag ng clarificatory hearing.
Alam mo talagang ang profession ng mga abugado whether nasa private practice or nasa government ay talagang mapanganib kasi nasa very nature ng work ng mga lawyers 'yan
But it doesn't mean that we will take it for granted kaya nagkaroon kami ng series of dialogues kasama ang SC at representatives ng IBP to discuss how to deal with this situation.
Sen. Pia Cayetano:
Napakahalaga ng batas na ito kasi talagang parang nalulunod tayo sa problema na dala ng COVID.
Ang kagandahan ng CREATE na ito, na-conceptualize ito 25 years ago pa, na pagandahin ang incentives para ang mga investors ay gustuhing mag-invest dito sa Pilipinas.
When we pass CREATE, parang sinabi natin sa investors na "pasok kayo rito, maganda ang incentives, bawas ang tax na babayaran niyo sa mga unang taon because kayo naman ang magbibigay ng trabaho, technology" The first part of CREATE is 'yong nagbibigay ng maganda at very competitive incentives compared sa other neighboring ASEAN countries natin.
The second part really affects every business person. Kung kayo ay may corporation, ang tax natin ngayon na nasa 30% ay bababa agad ng 25%
Kung SME ka na hindi lumalampas ng P5 million ang kikitain mo, 20% lang ang iyong tax na babayaran.
We included mga VAT and duty-free importation of the COVID vaccine, pati tax sa educational and health institutes natin nabawasan nang todo
Ang minimum corporate income tax (MCIT), ginawa nating 1% 'yan na dati 2%.
Kung kayo ay isang registered business enterprise na tumatanggap ng incentives, tuloy-tuloy 'yan for 10 years.
Maganda kasi itong pagkagawa namin ng CREATE dahil in-identify po natin ang mga lugar. We categorized every area in the country such that Metro Manila, siya na ang pinakamababang incentive na matatanggap kasi buhay naman ang negosyo sa Metro Manila.
In terms of incentives, 'yung mga pinakamalayong lugar, 'yon ang pinakamagandang incentives.
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