Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel wants Congress to provide a bigger budget to the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Program (WPSBP), amid the spate of violent crime, including the Oct. 3 contract killing of veteran radio commentator Percival Mabasa, better known as Percy Lapid.
“The WPSBP seems to be working well. But we have to support the program with greater funding so it can extend highly improved financial, relocation, and livelihood assistance to witnesses,” Pimentel said in a statement on Sunday.
The WPSBP has an allocation of only P238 million in the proposed 2023 General Appropriations Act, according to Pimentel, vice chairperson of the House good government and public accountability committee.
“This way, we can encourage more witnesses to cooperate in law enforcement investigations and judicial proceedings without fearing not only reprisals but also without fearing economic dislocation,” Pimentel said.
“We also want the WPSBP to establish additional safehouses to accommodate witnesses, and if necessary, to allow them to stay together with their families,” Pimentel said, adding that the program currently has only 48 hideouts nationwide.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla earlier said he is “open” to the possible inclusion in the WPSBP of Joel Escorial, the self-confessed gunman in the murder of Mabasa.
“Kung talagang yun lang ang paraan para matapos natin ang kaso, possible po ‘yan (If that is the only way to resolve the case, that’s possible),” Remulla said in an interview Thursday over Radio DZBB.
But Remulla said Escorial did not seek witness protection when he voluntarily surrendered to the authorities out of fear for his personal safety.
“We also want the WPSBP to establish additional safehouses to accommodate witnesses, and if necessary, to allow them to stay together with their families.”
The WPSBP has an allocation of only P238 million in the proposed 2023 General Appropriations Act, according to Pimentel, vice chairperson of the House good government and public accountability committee.
A total of 512 witnesses were covered by the program at the end of 2021, up from 490 at the end of 2020, Pimentel said.
Covered witnesses have aided or are helping in the prosecution of dozens of sensational criminal cases, such as the kidnapping and murder of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-Joo; the hazing death of University of Santo Tomas law student Horacio Castillo; the Maguindanao massacre; and the murders of Kian delos Santos, Carl Arnaiz and Reynaldo de Guzman – three teenagers who became victims of the government’s war on drugs.
