Recto seeks more funds for Witness Protection Program

Sen. Ralph Recto is seeking more funds to sustain the Witness Protection Program (WPP), which he described as a significant aspect of the campaign against corruption and graft nationwide.

The senator stressed that the WPP is also a bulwark of the battle against heinous crimes, noting that it is the duty of the state to protect witnesses and ensure that their testimonies against accused offenders would never be shaken.

Recto explained that the validity of testimonies and testimonial evidence is crucial in winning cases and the WPP acts as a guarantee that star witnesses will never be subjected to pressures and threats.

He noted that in the past, many of the so-called star witnesses in high-profile crimes caved due to intimidation and threats or systematic elimination of family members.

To preclude this, it behooves government to follow its mandate to protect witnesses and ensure that they would not retract or suddenly disappear.

Recto stressed that WPP needs to be promoted since it has notched impressive achievements since it was established in 1991 and noted that the program institutionalized by Republic Act 6981 only had a budget of P89.093 million in 2006.

For this year, he added, the program enjoyed a modest P5 million increase in its budget, with bulk of the money intended to purchase vehicles for high-risk witnesses.

Recto said that by the end of 2005, the WPP already had 547 beneficiaries nationwide, aside from their relatives who are also supported by the government because of persistent threats. In that year, 53 convictions were secured in 39 criminal cases utilizing 45 star witnesses covered by WPP.

From 2003 to 2005, the number of WPP witnesses increased from 436 to 547, the Batangas senator said, and the state won 270 cases out of the 307 decided by the courts.

What makes the WPP more significant is that it had notched an 87.95 percent rate of conviction, with 553 of the accused convicted on the basis of testimonies given by 362 WPP witnesses.

In 2005, WPP accomplished a 100 percent conviction rate on account of the testimonies of 45 witnesses.

"For the first semester of 2006, all the accused pinned down by WPP witnesses were likewise convicted," Recto ended.