DESPITE the government’s sustained vigorous efforts, crime and violence continue to proliferate in our society.
One of the cited reasons for the rise in the incidents of crime and violence is the public indifference or apathy towards the apprehension and prosecution of criminal offenders. To effectively discourage such public indifference, the Obstruction of Justice Law (Presidential Decree No. 1829) was issued in 1981.
The decree penalizes “the obstruction of apprehension and prosecution of criminal offenders”—or acts which “obstruct or frustrate or tend to obstruct or frustrate the successful apprehension and prosecution of criminal offenders.”
Under PD No. 1829, the penalty of prision correccional its maximum period, or a fine ranging from 1,000 to 6,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon “any person” who “knowingly or willfully” obstructs, impedes, frustrates or delays the apprehension of suspects and the investigation and prosecution of criminal cases by committing certain acts. (Prision correccional ranges from six months and one day to six years.)
These specific acts, under Section 1 of the law, include, among others, the following: “(1) preventing witnesses from testifying in any criminal proceeding or from reporting the commission of any offense or the identity of any offender/s by means of bribery, misrepresentation, deceit, intimidation, force or threats; (2) altering, destroying, suppressing or concealing any paper, record, document, or object, with intent to impair its verity, authenticity, legibility, availability, or admissibility as evidence in any investigation of or official proceedings in, criminal cases, or to be used in the investigation of, or official proceedings in, criminal cases; (3) harboring or concealing, or facilitating the escape of, any person he knows, or has reasonable ground to believe or suspect, has committed any offense under existing penal laws in order to prevent his arrest prosecution and conviction; and (4) publicly using a fictitious name for the purpose of concealing a crime, evading prosecution or the execution of a judgment, or concealing his true name and other personal circumstances for the same purpose or purposes.”
If any of the mentioned acts under Section 1 of the law is penalized by any other law with a higher penalty, the higher penalty shall be imposed. (Section 1, PD No. 1829) Furthermore, if any of these acts is committed by a public official or employee, he shall (in addition to the penalties provided under the law), suffer perpetual disqualification from holding public office. (Section 2, PD No. 1829)
The elements of obstruction of justice are: (a) that the accused committed any of the acts listed under Section 1 of PD No. 1829; and (b) that such commission was done for the purpose of obstructing, impeding, frustrating, or delaying the successful investigation and prosecution of criminal cases. [Navaja v. De Castro, 839 SCRA 232 (2017); see also Padiernos v. People, 766 SCRA 614 (2015)]
It should be stressed that PD 1829 punishes acts “knowingly and willfully” committed with the intention to obstruct, impede, frustrate or delay the administration of justice. (Dr. De Leon v. Atty. Luis, G.R. No. 226236, July 06, 2021; see also Disini, Jr. v. The Secretary of Justice, G.R. 203335, February 11, 2014 and companion cases) Thus, there is a need for a judicial determination of guilt, “during which defense and justifications may be raised.”
