MANILA: Communications equipment of persons suspected of being involved in the illegal drug trade may soon be subjected to wiretapping.
This, after Senator Gregorio Honasan II filed House Bill 33431, which seeks to amend Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
The bill seeks to give the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) the power to authorise teams to submit applications for the issuance of written orders from the Court of Appeals (CA) to wiretap, intercept, eavesdrop and record the movement and activities of persons suspected of involvement in the dangerous drugs’ trade.
Aside from the existence of probable cause, the authorisation to wiretap can only be issued by the appellate court based on the obtained evidence and that if there are no other effective means readily available for acquiring such evidence, according to the bill.
The measure provides that the operatives may use “any mode, form, kind or type of electronic or other surveillance equipment or tracking devices” to monitor communications, messages, conversations, discussions, or spoken or written words of the drug pushers, manufacturers, importers and financiers of the prohibited drugs.
The order that will be issued by the court “shall not exceed a period of 30 days” but the CA may extend or renew the authorization “for another non-extendible period” of 30 days from the expiration of the original period.
If no case is filed within the 30-day period, the CA as well as the PDEA, PNP and NBI “shall immediately” order the termination of the wiretapping and surveillance.
Honasan, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, proposed in his bill that “all tapes, discs, records, notes, memoranda, summaries, excerpts and all copies” of the wiretapping and surveillance shall be deposited in a sealed envelope with an authorised division of the CA.
”The sealed envelope or sealed package and the contents thereof, which are deposited with the authorizing division of the Court of Appeals, shall be deemed and are hereby declared classified information,” Honasan’s bill said.
Honasan said “any public officer” who will conduct the wiretapping without authority shall be liable for violating Article 229 of the Revised Penal Code which prohibits any public officer from revealing any secret known to him by reason of his official capacity.
The Philippine star
