EDITORIAL - Harboring fugitives

It took considerable state resources, time and effort to find pastor Apollo Quiboloy in the huge Kingdom of Jesus Christ estate in Davao City. The government also had to scramble to track down Alice Guo after the dismissed mayor of Bamban, Tarlac was confirmed to have fled the country together with her alleged siblings Shiela and Wesley.

Those involved in the manhunt for Quiboloy and Guo complained that they were misled by supporters of the two including lawyers. In Quiboloy’s case, amid efforts to stop the police search for the pastor at the KOJC compound, even Vice President Sara Duterte said he was no longer there, joking that he had gone to Heaven, while his chief legal counsel expressed a similar view.

Yesterday, the Philippine National Police said that aside from indictments for harboring a fugitive and obstruction of justice, the government is studying possible sedition cases against KOJC members who staged mass gatherings during the manhunt for Quiboloy. This week the Department of Justice also said even former president Rodrigo Duterte, who has accepted his designation as administrator of KOJC assets, may be indicted for obstruction of justice.

As for Guo’s escape, a lawyer is in hot water for apparently playing a role in covering up her departure from the country in July. Authorities are still determining who can be held liable for facilitating her escape. The man Guo has identified as the person who financed her departure allegedly by yacht from Manila and escape to Malaysia, Singapore and then Indonesia is a Chinese who is reportedly no longer in the Philippines. Following Guo’s testimony yesterday before the Senate, however, authorities may yet nail down persons still in the Philippines who helped her escape. A former “chief PNP” reportedly received a generous amount of money to help, although at this point, this story is more like raw, unverified intel bordering on gossip.

The cases of Quiboloy and Guo have raised questions on the extent of protection allowed under the principle of attorney-client privilege. The privilege is not supposed to extend to cases wherein the services of a lawyer are used or obtained to aid or enable the client to commit a crime. Is the lawyer allowed to help the client evade arrest or prosecution? These issues need to be clarified, if only to prevent more fugitives from evading the law.