GOVERNMENT OF HONG KONG V.

OLALIA
FACTS:
Juan Muoz was charged before a Hong Kong Court with several counts
of offenses in violation of Hong Kong laws. If convicted, he faces a jail term of
7 to 14 years for each charge. After Juan Muoz was arrested in the
Philippines, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region filed with the RTC
of Manila a petition for the extradition of Juan Muoz. On December 20,
2001, Judge X of RTC-Manila allowed Juan Muoz to post bail.
However, the government of Hong Kong alleged that the trial court
committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of
jurisdiction in admitting him to bail because there is nothing in the
Constitution or statutory law providing that a potential extraditee a right to
bail, the right being limited solely to criminal proceedings.
HELD:
The SC remanded to the Manila RTC, to determine whether Juan Muoz
is entitled to bail on the basis of clear and convincing evidence. If Muoz is
not entitled to such, the trial court should order the cancellation of his bail
bond and his immediate detention; and thereafter, conduct the extradition
proceedings with dispatch.
If bail can be granted in deportation cases, we see no justification why
it should not also be allowed in extradition cases. Likewise, considering that
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights applies to deportation cases,
there is no reason why it cannot be invoked in extradition cases. After all,
both are administrative proceeding where the innocence or guilt of the
person detained is not in issue."
Extradition is not a trial to determine the guilt or innocence of the
potential extraditee. Nor is it a full-blown civil action, but one that is merely
administrative in character. Its object is to prevent the escape of a person
accused or convicted of a crime and to secure his return to the state from
which he fled, for the purpose of trial or punishment. It does not necessarily
mean that in keeping with its treaty obligations, the Philippines should
diminish a potential extraditees rights to life, liberty, and due process. More
so, where these rights are guaranteed, not only by our Constitution, but also
by international conventions, to which the Philippines is a party. We should
not, therefore, deprive an extraditee of his right to apply for bail, provided
that a certain standard for the grant is satisfactorily met.