Agra vows to finish implementing rules of Prosecution Service Act

MANILA, Philippines – Acting Justice Secretary Alberto Agra yesterday vowed to finish the implementing rules and regulations of the Prosecution Service Act before he steps down on June 30.

Agra said the Prosecution Service Act of 2010 or Republic Act 10071 would aid the legal arm of the government and boost efforts to fight criminality.

“The long wait is over. We will now have Republic Act 10071, which became a law on April 8, 2010.This law empowers the national prosecution service to provide… positions as well as increased benefits to our prosecutors... Hopefully by June 13, or thereabouts, we will have the implementing rules for this law,” he said.

RA 10071 was signed last April 6, paving the way for the creation of the National Prosecution Service (NPS) to be responsible for the preliminary investigation and prosecution of all cases involving violations of the country’s laws.

The measure would also mean the creation of additional plantilla positions and increase the benefits of prosecutors, formerly called fiscals, to attract more lawyers to enter government service.

Under the new law, the NPS would be composed of the prosecution staff in the Department of Justice (DOJ) and offices of the regional, provincial, and city prosecutors.

The prosecution staff, under the supervision of the secretary of Justice, shall be headed by a prosecutor-general, previously known as chief state prosecutor, who would be assisted by five senior deputy state prosecutors, five deputy state prosecutors, 35 senior assistant state prosecutors, 80 assistant prosecutors, and 20 prosecution attorneys.

 Among the staff’s functions are to assist the Justice secretary in the exercise of appellate jurisdiction; conduct preliminary probe and prosecution of criminal cases involving national security; and those cases whose venues are transferred to avoid miscarriage of justice; act as counsel for the Filipino people in any cases involving or arising from a criminal complaint investigated by any of its prosecutors and pending before any trial court;

Investigate administrative charges against prosecutors and member of support staff; prepare legal opinion on queries involving violations of the Revised Penal Code; and monitor all criminal cases filed with the Office of the Prosecutor General.

At least P50 million was allocated for organizational and operational expenses.

The law also mandated the establishment of a regional prosecution office in each administrative region, except the National Capital Region (NCR), to supervise all provincial and city prosecutors and prosecute any cases arising within the region.

For purposes of the regionalization, the NCR would be placed under the supervision of the prosecutor-general.

It would raise the number of prosecution officers and prosecutors for each province and city to help the court deal with the increasing number of cases. It provided for the automatic creation of positions of assistant and associate prosecutor in the office of the provincial or city prosecutor wherever new courts or branches are created in the province or city.

 It would also reclassify the position of prosecution officers, such as assistant chief state prosecutor, who will be called senior deputy state prosecutor, while those holding the rank Prosecutor III and Prosecutor II will now be known as senior assistant state prosecutors and assistant state prosecutors, respectively.

Prosecutors would also be entitled to the grant of allowances, in amounts not exceeding 50 percent of their basic salaries, to be given by their respective local governments.

All pension benefits of retired prosecutors of the NPS will be automatically increased whenever there is an increase in the salary and allowance of the same position from which he retired.

A prosecutor who retires after 15 years of service or at age 65 shall get retirement pension, based on the highest salary and highest monthly aggregate of allowances.

If a prosecutor assumes an elective public office, he is no longer entitled to receive the monthly pension or any of the allowances due him.