The Department of Justice on Wednesday revealed that it has asked the Integrated Bar of the Philippines to investigate lawyers involved in filing “contrived” charges against fugitive foreigners to stop their deportation.
This, as DoJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla earlier accused some lawyers of filing charges against fugitive Japanese nationals in the custody of the Bureau of Immigration to prevent their deportation.
Foreigners with cases filed in courts cannot be deported until the cases are resolved.
“I have assigned some of my staff to write the Integrated Bar of the Philippines because all the disciplinary proceedings start with the IBP,” Remulla said in a statement.
“So, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines will now conduct its own investigation as to the practice of delaying cases even to contrived cases that should not happen anymore,” he added.
Remulla also stressed that the findings and recommendations of the IBP would be forwarded to the Supreme Court which has the power to discipline lawyers as he cited the cases of four Japanese nationals who were in BI custody and who had been charged in various courts in the country.