Suportado ng mga miyembro ng Mababang Kapulungan ang pahayag ni Justice Sec. Jesus Crispin Remulla na may limitasyon ang diplomatic immunity ng mga foreign diplomat na naka-destino sa Pilipinas.
Sa gitna ito ng atas ni Remulla na imbestigahan ng NBI ang ginawang paglalabas ng Chinese embassy ng transcript at recording ng umano’y paguusap ng isang Chinese diplomat at opisyal ng Philippine military patungkol sa Ayungin Shoal.
Paalala ni Deputy Majority Leader Jude Acidre ang mga diplomats ay bisita lamang sa ating bansa.
Katunayan, nagiging epektibo lang ang diplomatic immunity na ito kapag natanggap na ang credential nila.
“Diplomats are guests of the country, while they have their own privileges and immunity it still boils down to the reality, they are guests of the receiving country. In fact, they cannot exercise any of those diplomatic immunities until they are officially received by the host state,” sabi ni Acidre.
Kaya kung mapatunayang nag-wiretap talaga ang Chinese diplomat ay marapat lang na mapanagot ito sa ating batas dahil iligal ang wire-tapping sa Pilipinas.
“Wiretapping is illegal in the country and if it can be established that these Chinese diplomats have wiretapped or made a recording of phone conversation and and they have indeed leaked these documents, then it only follows that they must be hold accountable under our laws since this goes beyond what is guaranteed by diplomatic immunity.” dagdag ni Acidre.
Sa panig ni 1-Rider party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez na mula sa minorya, sinabi niya na nasa kapangyarihan ng National Bureau of Investigation o NBI na magsagawa ng imbestigasyon ukol dito.
Sinegundahan din nito ang si Acidre at sinabi na may karapatan ang host country na panagutin ang mga diplomat na mapatutunayang lumag sa mga batas nito.
“We support the supposed probe by the NBI definitely, and we support one hundred percent fully the statements by the Secretary of Justice…it doesn’t even the necessitate the conversation ng diplomatic immunity. Any acts of alleged crimes that are perpetuated in the country would probably be within the jurisdiction of the NBI to probe. So, yung pag-probe pa lang po ng NBI, I don’t see any issues po doon, but with that said the culpability of certain persons, dito na po siguro papasok yung diplomatic immunity and we agreed the statement of the Secretary of Justice, sila pa sigurong mas may alam po dito sa expertise on the limitations of diplomatic immunity. Hindi po ito absolute, tama po iyon.” wika ni Gutierrez. | ulat ni Kathleen Forbes
