UPDATE ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WITNESSPROTECTION SECURITY AND BENEFIT PROGRAM (WPSBP)
Rommel Baligod＊I. OVERVIEW OF PROGRAM’S OPERATIONS
At a time when government is under ﬁre because of its perceived inability to stop unexplained killings
as borne by the recommendations of the Melo Commission, the UN Special Rapporteur Philipp Alston, EUNeeds Assessment Mission and the National Consultative Summit on Extra Judicial Killings and Enforced
Disappearances organized by the Supreme Court, the need to improve protection of witnesses, victims, judges
and prosecutors has been consistently articulated.
Although there has been a marked increase in the number of applications for coverage under theWPSB Program, due mainly to the increasing awareness of the importance of protecting witnesses in theprosecution of heinous crimes, the Program has remained under resourced. From the stand point of theprosecutors and law enforcers witness protection and care has become a vital tool in the effective prosecutionof criminal cases. With the proactive stance taken by the Justice Department under Secretary Leila M. deLima in the implementation of the Program’s mandate even the courts have relied on the Program for security
and other allied assistance to judges and court personnel particularly in high risk cases.
From only six admissions in its inception in 1991, the Program has expanded its operations throughthe years. For the period covering 1 January 2010 to 30 November 2010 a record of 162 applications wereﬁled with the Program. Out of this number 113 applicant witnesses were admitted and added to the witnesses
already being maintained by the Program. As of 30 November 2010, the Program had under its coverage atotal of 463 witnesses nationwide. However, for the period 1 July-30 November 2010 alone, commencing
from the assumption to office of the new administration under the 15th President of the Republic of thePhilippines, His Excellency, Benigno C. Aquino, 109 applications were filed out of which 63 applicant
witnesses were admitted.
As a general rule, dependents of covered witnesses extend up to the second civil degree. At an averagefamily size of four, this translates to additional 2,000 warm bodies to feed, secure, transport, send to school
and care for. We have obtained 61 convictions in 75 important cases with 42 convicted accused and utilizing
36 covered witnesses; thereby posting a conviction rate of 81.33% for the period under review.
The increase in the number of witnesses and the successful prosecution of cases are mainly attributed
to the late Senior State Prosecutor Leo Dacera, the former Program Diretor of the WPP, who passed away lastmonth. During his administration, awareness of the importance of protecting witnesses in the prosecution ofheinous crimes has dramatically increased.
Pursuant to the directive of Secretary De Lima to strengthen the Witness Protection Program thefollowing measures have been recommended for implementation:
A. Proactive Implementation
Program’s implementers in the regions have been directed to adopt a proactive stance in seeking out
witnesses in cases involving political killings, media murders and human rights violations. Althoughapplication for admission for witness protection coverage necessarily requires strict compliance with statutory
requirements, stringent vetting procedures and the identiﬁcation and evaluation of threats, program personnel
have been directed to liberalize admission requirements particularly when threat level on bona ﬁde witnesses＊Regional Prosecutor, Region II, Ofﬁce of the Witness Protection Program, Department of Justice, Republic of the Philippines.

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in media and political killings is high.
B. Enhancement of Witness Benefits
Witnesses often decline proposal to testify for the prosecution not only because of fear of physicalharm but more often because of economic dislocation. To allay witnesses’ uncertainty because of a drasticchange in their way of life upon admission into the Program economic beneﬁts and social services should beenhanced.
Psychological counseling which are presently undertaken in coordination with the Department ofHealth and Department of Social Welfare and Development shall be extended ample logistical support.
Direct financial assistance shall likewise be increased to ameliorate witness clients’ economiccondition.
Increase in employees’ beneﬁts.
C. Witness-Client Skills Training & Education
To prepare witnesses in re-joining mainstream society after their discharge from the Program asprotected witnesses and to lessen their dependence on the Program consistent with security requirements awide-ranging vocational orientation-training program shall be undertaken in cooperation with TESDA and/or
TLRC to prepare them for suitable employment here and abroad .
D. Institutionalization of Coordination with Judiciary & Other Pillars of Criminal Justice System
Speedy disposition of cases is a key feature in the maintenance of a reliable and credible witness
protection program. Prolonged pendency of cases particularly before the high courts results to apathy andindifference of witnesses on the success of the case. Loss of opportunity, isolation and boredom associatedwith extended confinement in relocation sites and safe houses away from native community and relatives
dampen witnesses’ resolve to testify. A team of prosecutors shall be organized to monitor and coordinate, andif circumstances so warrant, take over cases involving covered witnesses.
E. Upgrade in Training and Equipment of Protective and Administrative Personnel
Acquisition of ﬁrearms suitable for close quarter battle, body armor and communication equipment
for use of protective personnel are essential requirements for enhancement of the Program’s protectivecapability.
Upgraded training of administrative personnel should likewise be undertaken to keep them posted ontrends in record keeping and conﬁdentiality.
Purchase of utility vehicles to augment the Program’s aging ﬂeet to transport witnesses from regional
relocation sites to trial venues across the country is an operational necessity for the security and well being ofwitnesses.
F. Construction of a Secure WPP Building
At present the Program’s administrative operations are carried out in three separate locations within
the DOJ compound for lack of space. This exposes program documents, personnel and witnesses to risk
because accused, their relatives, representatives, lawyers, their agents and the general public all converge inDOJ to follow up their various concerns. Operation is hampered and confidentiality and security is
unavoidably compromised under this set-up as regulations and procedures designed to protect and secure
covered witnesses cannot be fully implemented as it would interfere with activities of other DOJ agencies
also holding ofﬁce in the compound.
It must be noted that two media organizations (Jucra and Juror) doing the justice beat have free access― 50 ―

to all parts of the DOJ compound. For a credible witness protection organization to function there is a needfor the construction of a secure building devoted to witness protection purposes only to ensure the effective
discharge of the Program’s mandate.

II. PROGRAM SPECIAL CONCERNS
A. Media Murders, Extra Judicial Killings, Ampatuan Maguindanao Massacre & Rebellion Cases
Because of the rise in media murder cases and extrajudicial killings the Philippines was labelled by
the international media organizations as the most murderous country for journalists.
To dispel the impression that in our country many killers and masterminds of journalists who expose
corruption in government get off the hook owing to the weakness of our criminal justice system, Secretary
Leila De Lima directed the Program implementers to be involved in case buildup, identiﬁcation of potential
witnesses under threat, filing of charges, securing of warrants and relocation of witnesses in a number ofcases.
On 23 November, 2009 the infamous Maguindanao massacre, which claimed 57 innocent lives,including a signiﬁcant number of media practitioners, took place in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.
Suspects, including members of the powerful Ampatuan political clan, have been charged with 57
counts of murder while others have been detained for rebellion charges using Program resources. Theprosecution is also directly supported by WPP including litigation costs of prosecutors, expert witness andother technical personnel. The cases are pending trial before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court. All in all
close to 900 persons have been named in the indictment in said cases while many more remain as John Does.
The speedy convictions of the accused in the murders of Edgar Damalerio (Pagadian), Allan Dizon(Cebu) and Marlene Esperat (Sultan Kudarat), Armando Pace (Digos City), Judge Orlando Velasco(Dumaguete) have been secured through the testimony of witnesses under the Program.
Consequently, Program resources have to be applied above the customary level to these nationalinterest cases, most especially in the recent Maguindanao massacre, in support of law enforcement,
intelligence and investigation agencies’ drive to help speedily resolve the case.
B. US Rewards For Justice Program
In the past the US government has paid substantial amounts to informants who proved crucial to thecapture of extremist leaders in Mindanao. Recently 4 individuals who provided information for theneutralization of Khadaffy Janjalani and Jainal Antel Sali (Abu Solaiman) were admitted into the Program at
the behest of the US State Department after payment to them of substantial amount of money. The rationale
for the huge payments in cash to informants with extensive media coverage, is to encourage potential
informants to come forward with information against remaining ASG and Jemaa Islamia personalities such asIsnilon Hapilon, Dulmatin Omar Patek and other religious extremist leaders still at large. This would enhance
government’s anti-terrorism campaign. Thereafter, the informants-witnesses and their families were turned
over to the Witness Protection Program (WPP). This required refurbishing of existing DOJ facilities for use
as secure temporary relocation sites, purchase of additional vehicles to supplement the Program’s aging ﬂeet,
and payment of incentive pay to personnel directly involved in this operation for increased work load.
C. Support for Anti Terrorism Cases
Support for President Aquino’s action program against anti-terrorism efforts continue to take up alarge part of the Program’s funds. Although the number and intensity of actual combat operations against theAbu Sayaff Group, Jemmaa Islamia and MILF may have declined the extremist groups appear to have taken adifferent tack by leaving their mountain lairs in Mindanao and shifting operations to the country’s urban― 51 ―

centers. Thus, the spate of terror bombing attacks in Regions 9 and 12 in recent months have required
extensive Program intervention in identifying and securing material witnesses and their relocation to safe
locations.
Considering the mobility of suspected terrorists and their involvement in numerous cases pending
across the country it has been essential to deploy and re-deploy material witnesses for them to testify invarious courts in Metro Manila and Mindanao and relocate them elsewhere to ensure confidentiality andsecurity. Emergency relocation of WCs and families to different harbouring sites in the country has increased
cost of operation.
Again, through the cooperation and testimony of witnesses under the Program the prosecution
succeeded in securing convictions in cases against ASG members and MILF Commander Tahir Alonto andother accused.
Thus, like in other Program special concerns, in anti-terrorism cases material and human resources
above the customary level for regional cases have to be provided directly to witnesses in support ofgovernment’s goal to decisively stomp out terrorism and criminality.
D. Trafficking In Persons Cases
The deportation of Filipinos from Malaysia and other Asean neighbors brought in its wake the ﬁling
in our courts of human trafﬁcking cases mostly at the behest of international organizations. Considering thatcriminal cases against organized criminal syndicates have to be filed nationwide in the victims’ port ofdeparture/re-entry Program resources were devoted to secure, house and transport witnesses in support of saidcases. Because of the successful prosecution of human trafﬁcking cases Zamboanga City Prosecutor Ricardo
Cabaron who is a Program implementer in Region 9 was recognized by the United States Government as the2007 Sen. Benigno Aquino, Jr. Fellowship for Professional Development awardee and awarded a training
course in the US.
E. Regionalization of Temporary Shelters and Safehouses
To highlight the signiﬁcance of the Program’s role in securing our witnesses, it is important to notethat because of close family ties and extended family system ingrained in our culture the Program isoftentimes compelled to grant witnesses’ requests to keep all family members in the safehouse for theirsecurity and peace of mind. This accounts for a high number of occupancy in temporary shelters. This is
however more economical compared to the need to transport and secure the witnesses whenever they would
want to visit their family outside of the safehouse.
To enhance operational efﬁciency, cut down on transport cost and reduce stress on witness clients andtheir families a number of regional temporary shelters with full security complement have been established inareas of witness preference where crime incidence on national interest cases appear to be on the rise. This is
an area that we would have to closely look into to make the Program’s operations in the countryside better
felt. By doing so we would be able to make the government particularly the Department of Justice more
relevant to the people’s needs particularly the underprivileged and marginalized in our aim to strengthen therule of law in our country.

III. CONCLUSIONI conclude my presentation by proposing the following amendments to the Witness Protection Act:(a) Inclusion of provisions for evidentiary rules to permit witnesses to testify in a manner that ensures theirsafety such as video links, close circuit screens and other adequate means. Under the present set up, witnesses
covered are treated and required to testify like ordinary witnesses. There are no rules as of yet on the mannerof their testifying.

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(b) Organic Protection Force for the Program should be established by law. The Program relies mostly on
the other law enforcement agencies for protection and security of the witnesses. The downside of this is that
we are left at the mercy of the other law enforcement agencies. In some regions, the Program practically has
to plead to get security personnel from other agencies.
(c) The law should allow law enforcers to be covered under the Program. As earlier pointed out by Deputy
Prosecutor General Gaña, law enforcers who are witnesses or have information regarding the commission ofa crime cannot avail of the beneﬁts under the program. This inhibition does not take into account the fact thatin the prosecution of most crimes, law enforcers who responded to and investigated their commission, areindispensable witnesses. Needless to say that even law enforcers in this jurisdiction are also susceptible tocorruption, threat and intimidation, causing them to avoid testifying or to testify falsely or evasively.
(d) Heavier penalty should be imposed for harassment of witnesses. Under existing law, the penalty forharassment is ﬁne of not more than 3,000 pesos or imprisonment of not more than one year or both. The law
is too lenient on this.
(e)Expanding the conﬁdentiality provisions of the law to include all aspects of the coverage(f) Increase penalty for recanting witnesses. Citation for contempt or perjury are the only penalty forrecanting witnesses. The penalty should be increased including the reparation of all government expenses
relative to his coverage(g) Provisions on cross border relocation should be included in the law. There is no law at the moment
requiring for the procedure and the manner of relocation of covered witnesses to other countries. No bilateralagreement with other countries on the matter.
(h) Change of identity implementation provisions must be had. The law or the rules of court do not haveprovisions on how to secure a change of witness identity.
(i) Fund augmentation for the Program. The present fund allocation of the Program is insufﬁcient to feed,
secure, care and protect the more than 2,000 witnesses and member of their respective families.
In parting, I quote the late Program Director Dacera,“The witnesses must realize that they have only one country which they have the duty to serve, loveand protect. In a more direct way, we must let them realize that every citizen has the duty to ﬁght crime andrespect the law, testify and convict criminals unmotivated by economic benefits alone for our nation toprosper and develop. It is only after we have achieved this that we may state that we have amply responded to
today’s challenge.”― 53 ―