Press Release
April 1, 2007

Recto appeals for a higher budget for Victims' Compensation Program

Senator Ralph Recto has asked government to give substance to its pledge to restitute victims of violent crimes and those who have been unjustly imprisoned for offenses they did not do by increasing the funding for the Victims' Compensation Program (VCP).

Recto explained that the annual appropriation of P20 million is a paltry sum for the increasing number of victims of violent crimes, along with the dependent orphans and relatives of fatalities.

The lawmaker said it is the duty of the state to ensure the safety of citizens and it worries him no end that many of those killed in violent crimes happen to be sole breadwinners of their families.

"It is an outrage that many families have been forced into destitution, or even prostitution, simply because the state has failed to compensate them for the loss of their kin," he explained.

VCP, which is administered by the Board of Claims (BC), was established by Republic Act 7309 in 1992 to compensate victims of violent crimes and those who had been imprisoned unjustly.

From 1992 to June 2006, the VCP benefited a total of 22,469 victims of violent and heinous crimes and 173 victims of illegal detention and unjust imprisonment, Recto said.

In 2005, VCP received 3,216 applications, with 2,630 victims being benefited, along with three people who were illegally detained and unjustly imprisoned.

A total of 259 applications were denied while 324 were under evaluation by yearend.

The senator said a doubling or a tripling of the budget for the VCP will go a long way in mitigating the pain of the victims, as well as those who have been wrongly imprisoned.

News Latest News Feed