The Philippines and Poland are seeking to forge agreements on transfer of sentenced persons and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Monday, Nov. 11.
In a statement, the DOJ said that “Philippines and Poland held the second round of negotiations for the proposed Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons and initial discussions on the proposed Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between the two countries in Manila from Nov. 5 to 7, 2024."
The DOJ said the Philippine panel was headed by Chief State Counsel Dennis Arvin L. Chan with Assistant Chief State Counsel Mildred Bernadette B. Alvor, and State Counsels Lourdes Gisela R. Mendoza, Jane Hazel Marie S. Garcia-Doble, Ma. Lorena L. Calo, and Armie D. Gutierrez-Bugarin.
The panel was also composed of representatives from Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) -- lawyers Sheila Mae A. Briones and Catherine C. Sy, and Jose L. Garcia III and Lara Dominique De Jesus.
The Polish panel was led by Judge Przemysław Domagała, Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Human Rights, Ministry of Justice as head of delegation; Ms. Marzena Górzyńska, head, Public International Law Division, Ministry of Justice; and Mr. Tomasz Chałański, head, Division of International Legal Cooperation on Criminal Matters, Department of International Cooperation and Human Rights, Ministry of Justice.
“Transfer of Sentenced Persons allows citizens convicted of crimes in another country to serve their remaining sentence in their own countries. Its objective is to facilitate the sentenced person’s effective rehabilitation and reintegration back into society,” the DOJ said.
“Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (MLA) is the process by which a state conducting investigation or prosecution of criminal cases or related proceedings requests legal assistance from another state, the most common of which, includes obtaining evidence or taking voluntary statements from persons, confiscation or forfeiture of property or proceeds of crime. MLA requests are key to obtaining evidence and confiscating illegal proceeds of crime located outside the state where the crime was committed,” it also said.