In terms of court fees alone, she said, the costs can be staggering for the majority of Filipino women and children since the filing fees have “multiplied by more than 300 percent.”
Very recently, she recalled, she accompanied a boy to the village police station to file charges against a man who had been beating the boy in full public view. “The realities slapped me in the face,” said Ursua as she went through the process with the child. “I had to pay for the child’s medico-legal examination in a government hospital. It was a minimal amount but why is there a fee?” Also, she added, there has been a major change in the criminal process that began with the last administration. And this is that a litigant is charged a fee “in practically every step of the criminal investigation process.” Anyone accessing the criminal justice system is required to pay P50 for the administration of an oath by a public prosecutor on an affidavit, P500 for filing a motion of reconsideration, and P1,000 for filing a petition for review with the Department of Justice.
“What happened to the duty of the state to investigate and prosecute crimes?” she asks. “Why is the burden on the ordinary citizen to prosecute criminals? Imagine this situation multiplied a thousand times in various places…where women victims of abuse file complaints.”
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