05/14/2011 | 09:37 PM
Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson has urged Congress to impose tougher penalties on witnesses who give false testimony and on public servants who force others to commit perjury.
Lacson summed up his proposals in Senate Bill 2803, which seeks to strengthen three articles in the Revised Penal Code that deal with false testimony. The provisions he wants revised are Articles 180, 183 and 184.
For crimes in which the defendant is meted the penalty of arresto mayor and was convicted because of false testimony, the senator also wants arresto mayor for the perjurer.
Arresto mayor is imprisonment of “one month and one day to six months," according to the Code.
Lacson said the bill warrants approval because “[t]he assertion of falsehood, under oath or affirmation, is becoming prevalent. False testimonies and sworn statements are sometimes being used to support malicious complaints with the intent of harassing and persecuting innocent persons."
He also said a prosecutor wrongfully accused him of masterminding the murder of publicist Bubby Dacer and Dacer’s driver, Emmanuel Corbito.
“Some public prosecutors, in violation of the code of their profession, instead of making sure that justice is done, suppress facts and conceal witnesses capable of establishing the innocence of the accused. Sometimes they even offer false testimonies and perjured witnesses to support their unfounded charges," Lacson explained in the bill’s explanatory note.
Lacson proposed a fine of P1 million and perpetual disqualification from public office for any public official or employee who gives false testimony or causes it to be made.