By Junex Doronio & Liza Soriano
Picture this: a Filipina passionately kisses her foreign boyfriend, the same man she had taken legal action against for allegedly violating the country’s Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) Act.
No harm right?
Wrong.
It’s a legal racket that has allegedly gone too far, mastered by dishonest lawyers and their foreign clients to circumvent the law on deportation.
Stressing that the “demanda me” racket among lawyers must be stopped, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Monday proposed that the Senate should craft a law that will impose stiffer penalties against lawyers who assist foreigners in filing cases against themselves to avoid deportation.
“Mas mahalaga siguro ay malaki ang penalties sa mga lawyers na maga-assist ng ‘demanda me’ raket na ginagawa po ng mga foreigners… Pangkabuhayan po talaga,” Remulla lamented. “May ‘demanda me’ package po na ginagawa ang mga lawyers minsan para hindi ho mapa-deport ‘yung mga tao.”
Remulla disclosed this during the Senate finance committee hearing on the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its attached agencies’ proposed P34.486-billion budget for 2024.
The DOJ chief pointed out the necessity of a law that will “immediately” waive these alleged trumped-up charges filed by the foreigners against themselves.
“‘Yung batas ho kasi hindi natin puwede i-deport habang may kaso sila dito… kung meron ho tayong batas na hindi ho na lalo na immediately puwede ho natin i-waive yung cases, makabubuti po sana ‘yan,” Remulla said.
He cited the case of a woman who filed a case against his Japanese boyfriend for alleged violation of the Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) Act.
“Nakita namin isang kaso sa Japanese noon, ‘yung girlfriend po na nag-file ng VAWC, lagi hong bisita at lagi nagbebeso-beso at bumibisita pero may VAWC case siya laban sa boyfriend niya,” Remulla revealed.