Sorry for late reply,but i am busy busy with opening a third Restaurant. I can of course not answer this question definitely, but here are reasons from (similar) cases in Cebu City. ASSUMPTION based upon other : 1.) They have a lawyer which delays because every hearing he has, brings him extra pay. I'd advise them to change lawyer. 2.) The Judge has to follow procedure, if the Police ( as stated in this thread) "forgets" paperwork on the hearing dates, he can do so three times before getting punished. Actually its the lawyer who should/could get copies of those paperwork and fights them in the hearing on the set date. That is why mostly Police/Prosecution investigators do not bring anything along. Apparently this does not happen,so every attendee just happily collects his travel expenses ( lawyer fee) and the case goes back to the bottom of the pile. 3.) Of course there is also the possibility, that the Investigator/Police/Prosecution just wants to "boil" the Taylors down and shake them for money, but a.) this is an unproven accusation and i don't believe it, because corruption happens upon arrest or shortly after and not three years.. b.) Once a Person is in 2nd stage custody, this goes legal procedure and corruption is pretty hard to apply. It also happensmuch less than publically assuemd. In fact, cases with corruption involved are kept silent and this can hardly be said in the Taylors case. The Procedure is always the same- Police ( provides crime facts or follows complaint )a lawyer can only check papers and place bail, but has to wait for trial otherwise. Prosecution ( Continues the investigation and prepares cases ) opposing are the Defense Lawyer which hopefully got his wits and can rip the case apart int he air. Judge ( sentences only ) Based upon weighing the Posecution and defense against each other. he got no further influence, ifa Lawyer orProsecutor demands "delay"for further whatever, he has to grant it and can only decide otherwise if its obvious that the delays are done for dubious reasons. So in the Taylor case, Police has done their Job already, Prosecution is now "fighting" the Defense ( or not ). I assume again, the delays are on the defense side, NOT the prosecuting side. Prosecutors can not "delay" unlimited, they have to have very valid reasons, unlike the defense Lawyers, which can ask several times to delay the proceedings to gather more evidence or witnesses for example.
From memory when I spoke to Kevin he said he was conducting his own defence, he had a lawyer at one point but the guy was useless and I think he got rid of him long ago, he has no money for one anyway and his parents can't afford to pay for one either. I am not sure about Charlene but I think she is probably doing the same. I do know that Kevin has been in regular correspondence with the court The delays seem to be being caused by prosecution witnesses and complainants not turning up and the judge refusing to throw out the case, these witnesses have apparently even been told by the court that they themselves will be charged if they don't start showing some respect for the court and yet still they don't turn up.
I see now the problem... Next time you are in touch with the Taylors, tell them to contact the local IBP chapter and ask foraPro bono Attourney, if they refuse to do so,its their own fault. If the IBP refuses ( impossible ) to give them a Pro Bono Attourney, tell them to forward the refusal letter to the IBP Philippiens Main Chapter. If they refuse, forward the refusal letter to the Media and the President of the Philippines ( no joke !) Correspondence or self-defense in Court by non lawyers is as valuable as a fruitfly conducting surgery. A simple typo or format error in the header makes the correspondece invalid and therefore non existence.
Some good news at last, according to Frank, who has been very close to what's going on in the background, on the support group for Kevin & Charlene four cases were heard last Tuesday, the judge enforced witness attendance this time, the witnesses stated that it was too expensive to continue attending and backed down. The judge also ruled that there was insufficient evidence and finally dismissed the cases. This leaves one remaining case on August 2nd which it is believed will also be dismissed. There are some formalities involving affidavit's from the witnesses that will cost 500 peso a head for the cases to be closed, I'm guessing but I expect K&C will have to pay for this given that said witnesses are pleading poverty. So not over yet but certainly much further forward.
Great news. How long has this been going on now? Amazing to think it basically comes down to witnesses not bothering to turn up and the courts taking their time to actually do something about it. Just hope something like this happens on a rare basis.
Over three years now Stu. Sadly I'm not sure it's that rare, the basic rule is keep your head down and if you are going to start a business then try to make it one that doesn't upset or draw envy from anyone over there. Also pick your employee's very carefully and keep a very very close eye on them but not directly, always try to use a truly trusted local management level employee, if you can find such. I do know people in higher level businesses over there and then it can be a bit different, specialist high skill businesses can be more mainstream and operate in an environment more familiar to us in the west, but if you have an on the ground high profile dealing with the public style of business then keep your involvement well hidden.
Sound advice. I'll be sure to apply these ideas to the wifes pig farm idea! Though I'm sure we'll be ok with her sister, lol
As far as I know, an altruistic British businessman, who has strong connections with the Philippines, has instructed a lawyer in Manila to investigate the Taylor's case with a view to getting them some more competent legal representation. There appears to be only one main complainant although prosecutors may contest that and she has singularly failed to be present in Court at any of the hearings. This, coupled with the lack of competent representation, has meant that prosecutors have been able to apply for and be granted postponement after postponement since without their witness, there is no case. Unfortunately such is all too common in this jurisdiction. The British Embassy is aware of Kevin's plight and he has been visited by consular officials but there has not been any attempt by them to make representations to the Department of Justice to speed-up the resolution of his case. What you need to bear in mind is that a foreigner will always be prosecuted for offences that Filipinos will get away with. Money is often the reason. But the Taylor case is not isolated. There's another British-Filipina couple who have been wrongly charged with serious crimes following a complete fiasco of an "investigation". That's a very high-profile case here (on Cebu).
As far as I am aware that is not the case, I do not believe that anyone has instructed any lawyers, there has never been any money available to do so. At this point as far as I know there are only one or two cases still to be heard, the recent floods have delayed these hearings yet again, court offices were flooded and paperwork has been lost, Kevin and Charlene both lost everything they had in the floods and now basically have the clothes they are standing in (the had changes of clothes kept with them in poly bags in the jail, all lost now). They have one regular visitor the girlfriend of an Australian (ex pat Scot) gentleman named Peter, Peter is one of the few westerners that have visited Kevin in the last three years, his girlfriend has very kindly visited them every other week for some considerable time. The very latest message from Kevin's dad does appear to suggest that something else might be going on in the background in the UK and if that is the case then it is very welcome news, so you may well be right, it is often hard to read between the lines as what is really happening does not always get published on the support site. I was not aware of the other couple in Cebu, would be interested to know more.
The instruction is quite recent and I do know the identity of both the UK businessman involved and also the prominent Manila lawyer he's instructed to look into the Taylor case. I am not, however, at liberty to divulge those details, however. Sorry. This is being handled very discretely behind the scenes and really aimed to get their case moving. I'll post some details but possibly not in an open forum. The case is highly political and steeped in corruption.
It shouldn't really matter for "We and I" as they haven't got as far as getting their case heard. Has anyone had any updates on the couple? I heard Kevin was pretty sick but as usual the support from the UK government will be weak at best (generally trying to avoid any assistance whatsoever).
Sorry to hear that any members from anywhere near the prison? Think they could do with some real help in there.
A couple of points occur to me. First, I am pretty sure that, as Guenther says, these two were in breach of the law, probably through simple ignorance. It is worth noting that going anywhere near this sort of activity is "asking for it", but a lot of people don't know that. A foreigner will always be reported by a local competitor. Next, I am only too well aware that, unless decisive action is taken, a civil or indeed a criminal case in the Philippines can go on pretty well "for ever" with no decision being reached, and the parties just turning up and having the case adjourned, again and again. That seems to be what has been happening here. Finally, let us hope they can get out soon.
Just want to point out some key factors here :- 1. If in breach of law according to who's information and was it confirmed it was them who were doing it? (because it contradicts their version of events). 2. Going near this sort of activity is asking for it (Is this in relationship to doing business in the Philippines at all or running a travel and visa agency? - Because running a legitimate business it does highlight the risks of operating in the Philippines. But if its regarding illegal activities there is still not enough information to confirm they were doing anything illegal. 3. I believe the average case lasts 7 years. But lets not get away from the main reason people are wanting to help and that's the humanitarian side of things. Do I believe they are guilty? Simply doesn't matter to me as I know how unreliable the legal system is I could never make any judgement at all. But what I do care about is that they are locked up with poor living standards and without a strong support mechanism either legally, NGO or government. If I was in that position I would hope there were good people like we have here that are willing to make a difference and even if the UK government lacks any spine (unless there is money attached) at least British people care. Before someone says to me Filipino's care too have only seen expats and Brits donate so if you have donated apologies.
