Republic
of the Philippines
Congress of the Philippines
Metro Manila
Fourteenth
Congress
Third Regular Session
Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the
twenty-seventh day of July, two thousand nine.
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9851
AN ACT DEFINING AND PENALIZING
CRIMES AGAINST INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW, GENOCIDE AND OTHER CRIMES
AGAINST HUMANITY, ORGANIZING JURISDICTION, DESIGNATING SPECIAL COURTS, AND FOR
RELATED PURPOSES
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:
CHAPTER
I
INTRODUCTORY PROVISIONS
Section 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Philippine
Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other
Crimes Against Humanity".
Section 2. Declaration of Principles and State Policies. -
(a) The Philippines
renounces war as an instrument of national policy, adopts the generally
accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land and
adheres to a policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation and amity
with all nations.
(b) The state
values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for human
rights, including the rights of indigenous cultural communities and other
vulnerable groups, such as women and children;
(c) It shall be the
responsibility of the State and all other sectors concerned to resolved armed
conflict in order to promote the goal of "Children as Zones of
Peace";
(d) The state
adopts the generally accepted principles of international law, including the
Hague Conventions of 1907, the Geneva Conventions on the protection of victims
of war and international humanitarian law, as part of the law our nation;
(e) The most
serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go
unpunished and their effective prosecution must be ensured by taking measures
at the national level, in order to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators
of these crimes and thus contribute to the prevention of such crimes, it being
the duty of every State to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over those
responsible for international crimes;
(f) The State shall
guarantee persons suspected or accused of having committed grave crimes under
international law all rights necessary to ensure that their trial will be fair
and prompt in strict accordance with national and international law and
standards for fair trial, It shall also protect victims, witnesses and their
families, and provide appropriate redress to victims and their families, It
shall ensure that the legal systems in place provide accessible and
gender-sensitive avenues of redress for victims of armed conflict, and
(g)The State
recognizes that the application of the provisions of this Act shall not affect
the legal status of the parties to a conflict, nor give an implied recognition
of the status of belligerency
CHAPTER
II
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Section 3. For purposes of this Act, the term:
(a)
"Apartheid' means inhumane acts committed in the context of an
institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial
group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime
(b) "Arbitrary
deportation or forcible transfer of population" means forced displacement
of the persons concerned by expultion by expulsion or
other coercive acts from the area in which they are lawfully present, without
grounds permitted under domestic or international law.
(c) "Armed
conflict" means any use of force or armed violence between States or a
protracted armed violence between governmental authorities and organized armed
groups or between such groups within that State: Provided, That such force or
armed violence gives rise, or may give rise, to a situation to which the Geneva
Conventions of 12 August 1949, including their common Article 3, apply. Armed
conflict may be international, that is, between two (2) or more States,
including belligerent occupation; or non-international, that is, between
governmental authorities and organized armed groups or between such groups within
a state. It does not cover internal disturbances or tensions such as riots,
isolated and sporadic acts of violence or other acts of a similar nature.
(d) "Armed
forces" means all organized armed forces, groups and units that belong to
a party to an armed conflict which are under a command responsible to that
party for the conduct of its subordinates. Such armed forces shall be subject
to an internal disciplinary system which enforces compliance with International
Humanitarian Law
(e) "Attack
directed against any civilian population" means a course of conduct
involving the multiple commission of acts referred to in Section 6 of this Act
against any civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or
organizational policy to commit such attack.
(f) "Effective
command and control" or " effective authority and control" means
having the material ability to prevent and punish the commission of offenses by
subordinates.
(g) "Enforced
or involuntary disappearance of persons" means the arrest, detention, or
abduction of persons by, or with the authorization support or acquiescence of,
a State or a political organization followed by a refusal to acknowledge that
deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of
those persons, with the intention of removing from the protection of the law
for a prolonged period of time
(h)
"Enslavement" means the exercise of any or all of the powers
attaching to the right of ownership over a person and includes the exercise of
such power in the course of trafficking in persons, in particular women and
children.
(i) "Extermination" means the international
infliction of conditions of life, inter alia, the deprivation of access
to food and medicine, calculated to bring about the destruction of a part of a
population.
(j) " Forced
pregnancy" means the unlawful confinement of a women to be forcibly made
pregnant, with the intent of affecting the ethnic composition of any population
carrying out other grave violations of international law.
(k) "Hors
de Combat" means a person who:
(1) is in the power
of an adverse party;
(2) has clearly
expressed an intention to surrender; or
(3) has been
rendered unconscious or otherwise incapacitated by wounds or sickness and
therefore is incapable of defending himself: Provided, that in any of these
cases, the person form any hostile act and does not attempt to escape.
(l) "Military
necessity" means the necessity of employing measures which are
indispensable to achieve a legitimate aim of the conflict and are not otherwise
prohibited by International Humanitarian Law
(m)
"Non-defended locality" means a locality that fulfills the following
conditions:
(1) all combatants,
as well as mobile weapons and mobile military equipment, must have been
evacuated;
(2) no hostile use of
fixed military installations or establishments must have been made;
(3) no acts of
hostility must have been committed by the authorities or by the population; and
(4) no activities
in support of military operations, must have been undertaken.
(n) "No quarter
will be given' means refusing to spare the life of anybody, even of persons
manifestly unable to defend themselves or who clearly express their intention
to surrender.
(o)
"Perfidy" means acts which invite the confidence of an adversary to
lead him/her to believe he/she is entitled to, or is obliged to accord,
protection under the rules of International Humanitarian Law, with the intent
to betray that confidence, including but not limited to:
(1) feigning an
intent to negotiate under a flag of truce;
(2) feigning
surrender;
(3) feigning
incapacitation by wounds or sickness;
(4) feigning
civilian or noncombatant status; and
(5) feigning
protective status by use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or
of a neutral or other State not party to the conflict.
(p)
"Persecution" means the international and severe deprivation of
fundamental rights contrary to international law by reason of identity of the
group or collectivity.
(q) "Protect
person" in an armed conflict means:
(1) a person
wounded, sick or shipwrecked, whether civilian or military;
(2) a prisoner of
war or any person deprived of liberty for reasons related to an armed conflict;
(3) a civilian or
any person not taking a direct part or having ceased to take part in the
hostilities in the power of the adverse party;
(4) a person who,
before the beginning of hostilities, was considered a stateless person or
refugee under the relevant international instruments accepted by the parties to
the conflict concerned or under the national legislation of the state of refuge
or state of residence;
(5) a member of the
medical personnel assigned exclusively to medical purposes or to the
administration of medical units or to the operation of or administration of
medical transports; or
(6) a member of the
religious personnel who is exclusively engaged in the work of their ministry
and attached to the armed forces of a party to the conflict, its medical units
or medical transports, or non-denominational, noncombatant military personnel
carrying out functions similar to religious personnel.
(r) "
Superior" means:
(1) a military
commander or a person effectively acting as a military commander; or
(2) any other
superior, in as much as the crimes arose from activities within the effective
authority and control of that superior.
(s)
"Torture" means the intentional infliction of severe pain or
suffering, whether physical, mental, or psychological, upon a person in the
custody or under the control of the accused; except that torture shall not
include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to,
lawful sanctions.
(t) "Works and
installations containing dangerous forces" means works and installations
the attack of which may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent
severe losses among the civilian population, namely: dams, dikes, and nuclear,
electrical generation stations.
CHAPTER
III
CRIMES AGAINST INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW,
GENOCIDE AND OTHER CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Section 4. War Crimes. - For the purpose of this Act, "war
crimes" or "crimes against Interntional
Human Humanitarian Law" means:
(a) In case of an
international armed conflict , grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12
August 1949, namely, any of the following acts against persons or property
protected under provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention:
(1) Willful
killing;
(2) Torture or
inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;
(3) Willfully
causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;
(4) Extensive
destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity
and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;
(5) Willfully
depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and
regular trial;
(6) Arbitrary
deportation or forcible transfer of population or unlawful confinement;
(7) Taking of
hostages;
(8) Compelling a
prisoner a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of
a hostile power; and
(9) Unjustifiable
delay in the repatriation of prisoners of war or other protected persons.
(b) In case of a
non-international armed conflict, serious violations of common Article 3 to the
four (4) Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely , any of the following
acts committed against persons taking no active part in the hostilities,
including member of the armed forces who have laid down their arms and those
placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention or any other cause;
(1) Violence to
life and person, in particular, willful killings, mutilation, cruel treatment
and torture;
(2) Committing
outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading
treatment;
(3) Taking of
hostages; and
(4) The passing of
sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment
pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all judicial guarantees
which are generally recognized as indispensable.
(c) Other serious
violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflict, within the
established framework of international law, namely:
(1) Internationally
directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual
civilians not taking direct part in hostilities;
(2) Intentionally
directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, object which are not
military objectives;
(3) Intentionally
directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transport, and
personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions or Additional
Protocol III in conformity with intentional law;
(4) Intentionally
directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles
involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance
with the Charter of the United Nations, as ling as they are entitled to the
protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law
of armed conflict;
(5) Launching an
attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or
injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and
severe damage to the natural environment which would be excessive in relation
to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated;
(6) Launching an
attack against works or installations containing dangerous forces in the
knowledge that such attack will cause excessive loss of life, injury to
civilians or damage to civilian objects, and causing death or serious injury to
body or health .
(7) Attacking or
bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which
are undefended and which are not military objectives, or making non-defended
localities or demilitarized zones the object of attack;
(8) Killing or
wounding a person in the knowledge that he/she is hors de combat, including
a combatant who, having laid down his/her arms or no longer having means of
defense, has surrendered at discretion;
(9) Making improper
use of a flag of truce, of the flag or the military insignia and uniform of the
enemy or of the United Nations, as well as of the distinctive emblems of the
Geneva Conventions or other protective signs under International Humanitarian
Law, resulting in death, serious personal injury or capture;
(10) Intentionally
directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art,
science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where
the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives.
In case of doubt whether such building or place has been used to make an
effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so
used;
(11) Subjecting
persons who are in the power of an adverse party to physical mutilation or to
medical or scientific experiments of any kind, or to removal of tissue or
organs for transplantation, which are neither justified by the medical, dental
or hospital treatment of the person concerned nor carried out in his/her
interest, and which cause death to or seriously endanger the health of such
person or persons;
(12) Killing,
wounding or capturing an adversary by resort to perfidy;
(13) Declaring that
no quarter will be given;
(14) Destroying or
seizing the enemy's property unless such destruction or seizure is imperatively
demanded by the necessities of war;
(15) Pillaging a
town or place, even when taken by assault;
(16) Ordering the
displacements of the civilian population for reasons related to the conflict,
unless the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so
demand;
(17) Transferring,
directly or indirectly, by the occupying power of parts of its own civilian
population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of
all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this
territory;
(18) Commiting outrages upon personal dignity, in particular,
humiliating and degrading treatments;
(19) Commiting rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution,
forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence
also constituting a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions or a serious
violation of common Article 3 to the Geneva Convensions;
(20) Utilizing the
presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points,
areas or military forces immune from military operations;
(21) Intentionally
using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of
objects indespensable to their survival, including
willfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions
and their Additional Protocols;
(22) In an
international armed conflict, compelling the nationals of the hostile party to
take part in the operations of war directed against their own country, even if
they were in the belligerent's service before the commencement of the war;
(23) In an
international armed conflict, declaring abolished, suspended or inadmissible in
a court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party;
(24) Commiting any of the following acts:
(i) Conscripting, enlisting or recruiting children under the
age of fifteen (15) years into the national armed forces;
(ii) Conscripting,
enlisting or recruiting children under the age of eighteen (18) years into an
armed force or group other than the national armed forces; and
(iii) Using
children under the age of eighteen (18) years to participate actively in
hostilities; and
(25) Employing
means of warfare which are prohibited under international law, such as:
(i) Poison or poisoned weapons;
(ii) Asphyxiating,
poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices;
(iii) Bullets which
expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as bullets with hard envelopes
which do not entirely cover the core or are pierced with incisions; and
(iv) Weapons,
projectiles and material and methods of warfare which are of the nature to
cause superfluous injury or unecessary suffering or
which are inherently indiscriminate in violation of the international law of
armed conflict.
Any person found
guilty of commiting any of the acts specified herein
shall suffer the penalty provided under Section 7 of this Act.
Section 5. Genocide - (a) For the purpose of this Act,
"genocide" means any of the following acts with intent to destroy, in
whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, religious, social or any other
similar stable and permanent group as such:
(1) Killing members
of the group;
(2) Causing serious
bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(3) Deliberately
inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its
physical destruction in whole or in part;
(4) Imposing
measures intended to prevent births within the group; and
(5) Forcibly
transferring children of the group to another group.
(b) It shall be
unlawful for any person to directly and publicly incite others to commit
genocide.
Any person found guilty of committing any of the
acts specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section shall suffer the
penalty provided under Section 7 of this Act.
Section 6. Other Crimes Against Humanity. - For the purpose of this
act, "other crimes against humanity" means any of the following acts
when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against
any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:
(a) Willful
killing;
(b) Extermination;
(c) Enslavement;
(d) Arbitrary
deportation or forcible transfer of population;
(e) Imprisonment or
other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules
of international law;
(f) Torture;
(g) Rape, sexual
slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or
any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;
(h) Persecution
against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national,
ethnic, cultural, religious, gender, sexual orientation or other grounds that
are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in
connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime defined in
this Act;
(i) Enforced or involuntary disappearance of persons;
(j) Apartheid; and
(k) Other inhumane acts
of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury
to body or to mental or physical health.
Any person found guilty of committing any of the
acts specified herein shall suffer the penalty provided under Section 7 of this
Act.
CHAPTER
IV
PENAL PROVISIONS
Section 7. Penalties. - Any person found guilty of committing any of
the acts provided under Sections 4, 5 and 6 of this Act shall suffer the
penalty of reclusion temporal in its medium to maximum period and a fine
ranging from One hundred thousand pesos (Php
100,000.00) to Five hundred thousand pesos (Php
500,000.00).
When justified by the extreme gravity of the
crime, especially where the commision of any of the
crimes specified herein results in death or serious physical injury, or
constitutes rape, and considering the individual circumstances of the accused,
the penalty of reclusion perpetua and a fine ranging
from Five hundred thousand pesos (Php 500,000.00) to
One million pesos (Php 1,000,000.00) shall be
imposed.
Any person found guilty of inciting others to
commit genocide referred to in Section 5(b) of this Act shall suffer the
penalty of prision mayor in its minimum period and a
fine ranging from Ten thousand pesos (Php 10,000.00)
to Twenty thousand pesos (Php 20,000.00).
In addition, the court shall order the forfeiture
of proceeds, property and assets derived, directly or indirectly, from that
crime, without prejudice to the rights of bona fide third (3rd) parties. The
court shall also impose the corresponding accessory penalties under the Revised
Penal Code, especially where the offender is a public officer.
CHAPTER
V
SOME PRINCIPLES OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY
Section 8. Individual Criminal Responsibilities. - (a) In addition to
existing provisions in Philippine law on principles of criminal responsibility,
a person shall be criminally liable as principal for a crime defined and
penalized in this Act if he/she:
(1) Commits such a
crime, whether as an individual, jointly with another or through another
person, regardless of whether that other person is criminally responsible;
(2) Orders,
solicits or induces the commission of such a crime which in fact occurs or is
attempted;
(3) In any other
way contributes to the commission or attempted commission of such a crime by a
group of person acting with a common purpose. Such contribution shall be
intentional and shall either:
(i) be made with the aim of furthering the criminal activity
or criminal purpose of the group, where such activity or purpose involves the
commission of a crime defined in this Act; or
(ii) be made in the
knowledge of the intention of the group to commit the crime.
(b) A person shall
be criminally liable as accomplice for facilitating the commission of a crime
defined and penalized in this Act if he/she aids, abets or otherwise assists in
its commission or attempted commission, including providing the means for its
commission.
(c) A person shall
be criminally liable for a crime defined and penalized in this Act if he/she
attempts to commit such a crime by taking action that commences its execution
by means of a substantial step, but the crime does not occur because of
circumstances independent of the person's intention. However, a person who
abandons the effort to commit the crime or otherwise prevents the completion of
the crime shall not be liable for punishment under this Act for the attempt to
commit the same if he/she completely and voluntarily gave up the criminal
purpose.
Section 9. Irrelevance of Official Capacity. - This Act shall apply
equally to all persons without any distinction based on official capacity. In
particular, official capacity as a head of state or government, a member of a
government or parliament, an elected representative or a government official
shall in no case exempt a person from criminal responsibility under this Act,
nor shall it, in and of itself, constitute a ground for reduction of sentence.
However:
(a) Immunities or
special procedural rules that may be attached to the official capacity of a
person under Philippine law other than the established constitutional immunity
from suit of the Philippine President during his/her tenure, shall not bar the
court from exercising jurisdiction over such a person; and
(b) Immunities that
may be attached to the official capacity of a person under international law
may limit the application of this Act, nut only within the bounds established
under international law.
Section 10. Responsibility of Superiors. - In addition to other grounds
of criminal responsibility for crimes defined and penalized under this Act, a
superior shall be criminally responsible as a principal for such crimes
committed by subordinates under his/her effective command and control, or
effective authority and control as the case may be, as a result of his/her
failure to properly exercise control over such subordinates, where:
(a) That superior
either knew or, owing to the circumstances at the time, should have known that
the subordinates were committing or about to commit such crimes;
(b) That superior
failed to take all necessary and reasonable measures within his/her power to
prevent or repress their commission or to submit the matter to the competent
authorities for investigation and prosecution.
Section 11. Non-prescription. - The crimes defined and penalized under
this Act, their prosecution, and the execution of sentences imposed on their
account, shall not be subject to any prescription.
Section 12. Orders from a Superior. - The fact that a crime defined and
penalized under this Act has been committed by a person pursuant to an order of
a government or a superior, whether military or civilian, shall not relieve
that person of criminal responsibility unless all of the following elements
occur:
(a) The person was
under a legal obligation to obey orders of the government or the superior in
question;
(b) The person did
not know that the order was unlawful; and
(c) The order was
not manifestly unlawful.
For the purposes of this section, orders to
commit genocide or other crimes against humanity are manifestly unlawful.
CHAPTER
VI
Protection of Victims and Witnesses
Section 13. Protection of Victims and Witnesses. - In addition to
existing provisions in Philippine law for the protection of victims and witnesses,
the following measures shall be undertaken:
(a) The Philippine
court shall take appropriate measures to protect the safety, physical and
physiological well-being, dignity and privacy of victims and witnesses. In so
doing, the court shall have regard of all relevant factors, including age,
gender and health, and the nature of the crime, in particular, but not limited
to, where the crime involves sexual or gender violence or violence against
children. The prosecutor shall take such measures particularly during the
investigation and prosecution of such crimes. These measures shall not be
prejudicial to or inconsistent with the rights of the accused and to a fair and
impartial trial;
(b) As an exception
to the general principle of public hearings, the court may, to protect the
victims and witnesses or an accused, conduct any part of the proceedings in
camera or allow the presentation of evidence by electronic or other special
means. In particular, such measures shall be implemented in the case of the victim
of sexual violence or a child who is a victim or is a witness, unless otherwise
ordered by the court, having regard to all the circumstances, particularly the
views of the victim or witness;
(c) Where the
personal interests of the victims are affected, the court shall permit their
views and concerns to be presented and considered at stages of the proceedings
determined to be appropriate by the court in manner which is not prejudicial to
or inconsistent with the rights of the accused and a fair and impartial trial.
Such views and concerns may be presented by the legal representatives of the
victims where the court considers it appropriate in accordance with the
established rules of procedure and evidence; and
(d) Where the
disclosure of evidence or information pursuant to this Act may lead to the
grave endangerment of the security of a witness for his/her family, the
prosecution may, for the purposes of any proceedings conducted prior to the
commencement of the trial, withhold such evidence or information and instead
submit a summary thereof. Such measures shall be exercised in a manner which is
not prejudicial to or inconsistent with the rights of the accused and to a fair
and impartial trial.
Section 14. Reparations to Victims. - In addition to existing provisions
in Philippine law and procedural rules for reparations to victims, the
following measures shall be undertaken:
(a) The court shall
follow the principles relating to the reparations to, or in respect of, victims,including restitution, compensation and
rehabilitation. On this basis, in its decision, the court may, wither upon
request or on its own motion in exceptional circumstances, determine the scope
and extent of any damage, loss and injury to, or in respect of, victims and
state the principles on which it is acting;1avvphi1
(b) The court may
make an order directly against a convicted person specifying appropriate
reparations to, or in respect of, victims, including restitution, compensation
and rehabilitation; and
(c) Before making
an order under this section, the court may invite and shall take account of
representations from or on behalf of the convicted person, victims or other
interested persons.
Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as
prejudicing the rights of victims under national or international law.
CHAPTER
VII
Applicability of International Law and Other Laws
Section 15. Applicability of International Law.- In the application and
interpretation of this Act, Philippine courts shall be guided by the following
sources:
(a) The 1948 Genocide
Convention;
(b) The 1949 Genava Conventions I-IV, their 1977 Additional Protocols I
and II and their 2005 Additional Protocol III;
(c) The 1954 Hague
Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed
Conflict, its First Protocol and its 1999 Second Protocol;
(d) The 1989
Convention on the Rights of the Child and its 2000 Optional Protocol on the
Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict;
(e) The rules and
principles of customary international law;
(f) The judicial
decisions of international courts and tribunals;
(g) Relevant and
applicable international human rights instruments;
(h) Other relevant
international treaties and conventions ratified or acceded to by the Republic
of the Philippines; and
(i) Teachings of the most highly qualified publicists and
authoritative commentaries on the foregoing sources as subsidiary means for the
determination of rules of international law.
Section 16. Suppletory Application of the
Revised Penal Code and Other General or Special Laws. - The provisions of
the Revised Penal Code and other general or special laws shall have a suppletory application to the provisions of this Act.
CHAPTER
VII
JURISDICTION
Section 17. Jurisdiction.- The State shall exercise jurisdiction over
persons, whether military or civilian, suspected or accused of a crime defined
and penalized in this Act, regardless of where the crime is committed,
provided, any one of the following conditions is met:
(a) The accused is
a Filipino citizen;
(b) The accused,
regardless of citizenship or residence, is present in the Philippines; or
(c) The accused has
committed the said crime against a Filipino citizen.
In the interest of justice, the relevant
Philippine authorities may dispense with the investigation or prosecution of a
crime punishable under this Act if another court or international tribunal is
already conducting the investigation or undertaking the prosecution of such
crime. Instead, the authorities may surrender or extradite suspected or accused
persons in the Philippines to the appropriate international court, if any, or
to another State pursuant to the applicable extradition laws and treaties.
No criminal proceedings shall be initiated
against foreign nationals suspected or accused of having committed the crimes
defined and penalized in this Act if they have been tried by a competent court
outside the Philippines in respect of the same offense and acquitted, or having
been convicted, already served their sentence.
Section 18. Philippine Court, Prosecutors and Investigators. - The
Regional Trial Court of the Philippines shall have original and exclusive
jurisdiction over the crimes punishable under this Act. Their judgments may be
appealed or elevated to the Court of Appeals and to the Supreme Court as
provided by law.
The Supreme Court shall designate special courts
to try cases involving crimes punishable under this Act. For these cases, the
Commission on Human Rights, the Department of Justice, the Philippine National
Police or other concerned law enforcement agencies shall designate prosecutors
or investigators as the case may be.
The State shall ensure that judges, prosecutors
and investigators, especially those designated for purposes of this Act,
receive effective training in human rights, International Humanitarian Law and
International Criminal Law.
CHAPTER
IX
FINAL PROVISIONS
Section 19. Separability Clause. - If,
for any reason or reasons, any part or provision of this Statute shall be held
to be unconstitutional or invalid, other parts or provisions hereof which are
not affected thereby shall continue to be in full force and effect.
Section 20. Repealing Clause. - All laws, presidential decrees and
issuances, executive orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof
inconsistent with the provisions of this Statute are hereby repealed or
modified accordingly.
Section 21. Effectivity. - This Act
shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its complete publication in the Official
Gazette or in two (2) newspapers general circulation.
Approved,
Sgd. PROSPERO
C. NOGRALES |
Sgd. JUAN
PONCE ENRILE |
This Act which is a consolidation of Senate Bill
No. 2669 and House Bill No. 6633 was finally passed by the Senate and the House
of Representatives on October 14, 2009 and October 16, 2009, respectively.
For:
Sgd. MARILYN
B. BARUA-YAP |
Sgd. EMMA
LIRIO-REYES |
Approved:
Sgd. GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO
President of the Philippines
December 11, 2009