EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 8
EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 8 - CREATING A
PRESIDENTIAL ANTI-ORGANIZED CRIME COMMISSION AND A PRESIDENTIAL
ANTI-ORGANIZED CRIME TASK FORCE, TO INVESTIGATE AND PROSECUTE CRIMINAL
ELEMENTS IN THE COUNTRY
WHEREAS,
organized syndicated crimes continue to undermine the ongoing
anti-crime campaign, thereby greatly affecting the peace and order
situation that contribute to the worsening economic condition;
WHEREAS, a sustained, relentless and dedicated campaign to minimize
organized and syndicated crimes as well as to neutralize their
protectors in government are among the priorities of the
administration;
WHEREAS, the Administrative Code of 1987 empowers the President with
the continuing authority to reorganize the Office of the President and
to transfer functions from one department or agency to another;
WHEREAS, the creation of a Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force
especially tasked to investigate and prosecute all criminal syndicates
and their protectors is imperative to bring about focus and substantive
results in the campaign against criminality and corrupt practices;
WHEREAS, there is a need to identify and effectively prosecute criminal
groups and their protectors in government through efficient
intelligence and counter-intelligence efforts;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH EJERCITO ESTRADA, President of the Republic
of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do
hereby, order:
Section 1. Organization. — There is hereby created a
Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, and a Presidential
Anti-Organized Crime Task Force under the Office of the
President.
Sec. 2. Composition and Leadership. — The Task
Force shall be composed of selected PNP/AFP members and representatives
from other branches of the government. It shall be headed by a
qualified senior law enforcement officer to be appointed by the
President. He shall be assisted by a Deputy Chief for Operations, a
Deputy Chief for Administration and a Functional Staff in the
implementation of policies within their respective functional areas.
The Functional Staff shall be composed of the Administrative/Logistics
Division, Operations Division, Technical Division and the Legal and
Investigation Division.
Sec. 3. Powers and Functions. — The Task Force
shall have the following powers and functions:
a)
Prepare and implement a fast track anti-crime and anti-graft and
corruption action agenda and adopt appropriate measures to ensure an
effective and efficient anti-crime drive;
b) Conduct
intelligence and counter-intelligence operations to identify government
officials and employees, crime syndicates and their cohorts who are
involved in criminal activities;
c) Cause or
direct the immediate arrest, investigation and speedy prosecution of
crime syndicates, government officials and employees and their cohorts,
with due regard to constitutional processes;
d) Refer the
case/s at hand, as the Task Force may deem proper and necessary, to the
Department of Justice, and/or other appropriate law enforcement
agencies for investigation or prosecution, as the case may be;
e) Follow up
the progress of on-going investigation and prosecution of cases taken
cognizance of by the Task Force;
f) Recommend
the passage of appropriate anti-crime issuances and
legislations;
g) Select and
recruit personnel from within the PNP, the AFP and other law
enforcement agencies for assignment to the Task Force subject to the
conformity of the agency concerned;
h) Enlist the
assistance of any department, bureau, office, agency or instrumentality
of the Government, including government-owned and/or controlled
corporations, in the anti-crime and anti-graft and corruption drive,
which may include the use of their respective personnel, facilities and
resources for a more resolute prevention, detection and investigation
of crimes and prosecution of their perpetrators;
i) Subject to
existing laws, grant monetary rewards or incentives to informants
giving vital information leading to the successful prosecution of
criminal offenders and corrupt government officials;
j) Coordinate
with the Witness Protection Security and Benefits Program Committee of
the Department of Justice to evaluate and assess witnesses who may
qualify under the provisions of Republic Act No. 6981, otherwise known
as the Witness Protection and Benefit Act;
k) Subject to
the approval of the President, authorized access to documents,
installations and facilities in pursuit of specific crime investigation
over government agencies and government owned or controlled
corporations; and
1) Recruit
civilian personnel and enlist their services for intelligence gathering
efforts.
Sec. 4. Offenses Covered. — The Task Force shall
have the authority to take cognizance of the following crimes:
a)
Those committed by the organized/syndicated crime groups, including but
not limited to gunrunning, illegal logging, robbery/hold-up, kidnapping
for ransom, white slavery, illegal recruitment, carnapping, smuggling,
piracy, drug trafficking, falsification of land titles and other
government forms, large scale swindling, film piracy, counterfeiting
and bank frauds;
b) Those
considered and punished as heinous crimes under Republic Act No. 7659
(Heinous Crime Law);
c) Those
committed by the members of the Philippine National Police and/or the
Armed Forces of the Philippines;
d) Those
committed by officials and employees of government agencies including
government-owned and controlled corporations;
e) Such other
criminal offenses as the President may determine from time to time.
An organized/syndicated crime group for purposes of this Executive
Order means a group of two or more persons collaborating, confederating
or mutually helping one another in the commission of any crime and
sometimes enjoying the protection of people in the government and
public service.
Sec. 5. The Commission herein created shall be
composed of the following:
The
President
- Chairman
The Secretary of Justice
- Member
The National Security Adviser
- Member
The Undersecretary of Interior
and Local Government - Member
The Chief of Staff, Armed Forces
of the Philippines
- Member
Director-General, Philippine
National Police
- Member
Four (4) representatives from the Private
Sector to be appointed by the
President - Member
The Commission shall exercise general control and supervision over the
Task Force. It shall enlist the assistance of civic and other similar
associations and provide a forum for continuing consultation among
concerned sectors with our society leading to the formulation of
policies to be recommended to the President in the form of issuances
and legislation.
Sec. 6. Agencies Assistance — .All government
agencies and instrumentalities, including but not limited to the:
a)
Philippine National Police (PNP)
b) National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)
c) National Prosecution Service (NPS)
d) Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID)
e) Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)
f) Economic Intelligence and Investigation Bureau
(EIIB)
g) Bureau of Customs (BOC)
h) National Intelligence and Coordinating Agency
(NICA)
i) Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)
j) Land Transportation Office (LTO)
k) Forest Management Bureau (FMB)
l) National Telecommunications Commission (NTC)
m) National Statistics and Census Office (NCSO)
n) Land Registration Authority (LRA)
o) Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA)
p) Other government agencies which the force may find
necessary to implement its mandate.
Sec. 7. Command and Control. — The flow of command
and control of the Task Force shall be as follows:
a)
The Force Chief shall report and be directly responsible to the
President;
b) The Force
Chief shall have immediate supervision and control over all units of
the Task Force. He is authorized to designate duties and functions of
personnel under him;
c) The
component units from the PNP, AFP, DOJ and selected/chosen
representatives of other government agencies shall be attached to the
Force Chief by their respective mother units. The Force Chief shall
have direct operational and supervisory authority over these personnel.
Sec. 8. Funding. — Subject to the usual audit, the
Task Force shall be provided with an initial annual allocation of ONE
HUNDRED TWENTY MILLION PESOS (P120,000,000.00) to be drawn from the
President’s Contingency Fund and from government’s savings.
Appropriations for the succeeding years shall be incorporated in the
budget proposal for the Office of the President. The Commission shall
be provided with an initial funding from the respective agencies
represented in the Commission. Thereafter, appropriations for the
succeeding years shall be incorporated in the budget proposal of the
Office of the President.
Sec. 9. Dissolved Agencies. — The Presidential
Anti-Crime Commission (PACC) and the Presidential Task Force on
Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence (PTFICI) are hereby dissolved and
deactivated effective immediately. All properties and equipment of the
PACC and PTFICI shall be turned-over to the Task Force.
Sec. 10. Operating Guidelines. — The Task Force
shall adopt, in coordination with command law enforcement agencies,
such operating guidelines as may be necessary to implement this
Executive Order, subject to the approval of the President. It shall
submit to the President through the Commission, reports of its
activities with appropriate recommendations for the information and
guidance of the President.
Sec. 11. Coordinating Instructions. — The
intendment of this issuance is to put strong and intensified focus
against organized/syndicated crimes, heinous and related offenses to be
addressed by the Task Force in course of the government’s anti-crime
campaign, while the Philippine National Police (PNP) shall continue to
be the primary general law enforcement agency of the country pursuant
to Republic Act No. 6875 (sic) *, as amended. Accordingly, close
coordination and cooperation shall be undertaken by the Chief of the
Force, the Chief, PNP and other heads of law enforcement agencies, to
insure synergy in the overall anti-crime campaign. Vertical and lateral
coordination among operating units, consistent with the security need
to prevent compromise in police operations, is hereby enjoined.
Sec. 12. Effectivity. — This Executive Order shall
take effect immediately.
DONE in the City of Manila,
this 22nd day of July, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and
Ninety-Eight.
* Copied verbatim from documents obtained directly
from the Malacañang records (Republic Act No. 6875 should read
as Republic Act No. 6975).