Congress urged to expedite law for compensating victims of unjust imprisonment, violent crimes

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice (DOJ) is urging the Congress to fast-track the legislation aimed at increasing compensation for victims of wrongful imprisonment and heinous crimes.

During the memorandum signing between the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and DOJ’s Board of Claims (BOCL) on Thursday, Justice officials emphasized the importance of increasing the compensation to align with the current standard of living.

“Meron tayong pending na batas, nasa Congress na pinapaakyat natin ito, 'yung amount. Ang batas na ito ay medyo outdated na, iba na 'yung sitwasyon noon at ngayon kaya sana tulungan tayo ng mga kasama sa gobyerno, sa legislative branch na mapataas na ang compensation,” DOJ Undersecretary Deo Marco, who is also the undersecretary of the BOCL said. 

(We have a pending law in Congress that we are pushing to increase, the amount. This law is somewhat outdated, the situation was different back then compared to now, so we hope that our colleagues in the government, in the legislative branch, will help us increase the compensation.)

“The system is different there…merong pending bill na itataas 'yan kasi 'yung P10,000 na 'yan 19 kopong kopong pa. So it’s no longer real, it's not realistic,” DOJ Undersecretary Raul Vasquez also said in his closing remarks.

(The system is different there... there's a pending bill to increase it because that P10,000 is outdated. So it’s no longer real, it's not realistic.)

“We will try to coordinate with the Office of the President para gawing priority bill ito pong batas na dapat ilabas na, kakakusapin natin ang kongreso para 'yan ay maging totoo at makamit natin ito,” Vasquez added.

(We will try to coordinate with the Office of the President to prioritize this bill, which should be passed into law. We will talk to the Congress about this to make it a reality and achieve it.)

Republic Act No. 7309, enacted in 1992, established the Board of Claims (BOCL) under the Justice department. The BOCL's primary purpose is to provide compensation to victims of unjust imprisonment or detention, with payments of up to P1,000 per month.

For victims of heinous crimes, the BOCL has the authority to approve claims of up to