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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Let Congress decide on decriminalization of libel, abortion -- DOJ

Let Congress decide on decriminalization of libel, abortion -- DOJ

Published Dec 6, 2023 08:09 am

Decriminalizing libel and abortion depends on Congress, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Wednesday, Dec. 6. 

“Kami naman sa DOJ (We at DOJ) we implement the law,” DOJ Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic F. Clavano IV said during the sidelines of the two-day National Jail Decongestion Summit being held in Manila.

“‘Yung opinyun namin kung kailangan i-decriminalize o hindi we leave up to them kasi mas holistic ‘yung prospective po nila (Our opinion on the need to decriminalize, we leave it up to the legislative branch which has a holistic prospective on the issue),” Clavano pointed out.

Clavano responded to the speech of Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez during the summit concerning plans of Congress to review the Revised Penal Code (RPC) and overhaul its classification system.

Romualdez said: “This review will assess the deterrent effect of these classifications and consider the decriminalization of certain offenses like libel, abortion, and dueling.”

“Sa part ho namin sa DOJ sila na po bahala magdiscuss at siguro mag-analyze dun sa legality or decriminalization ng abortion at libel (On the part of the DOJ, we will let the lawmakers discuss and analyze the legality or decriminalization of abortion and libel),” Clavano said.

He then noted that "sa tingin ko isa ‘yan sa mga short term solutions to decongest (I think it is one of the short term solutions).”

“It’s possible it could decongest to a certain extent pero we don’t think it’s the full solution to the problem,” he pointed out.

He also said: “Isa ‘yun sa mga sinusulong po natin pero hindi ‘yun ang pinakamain solution po natin (it is one of those being pushed but it’s not our main solution).”

“Out of the 52,000 [inmates] nationwide I wouldn’t say it would make a big dent. Siguro talaga meron marerelease dahil sa decriminalization ng libel and abortion (Maybe there would be some who will get released because of the decriminalization of libel and abortion) but that only pertains to a small profile of PDLs,” he added.

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