Do you still remember the couple who killed a Filipina in Kuwait and then put the body inside a freezer?
They were sentenced to death in Kuwait.
Many Filipinos wanted the couple to be tried, sentenced, and executed in the Philippines.
How I wish it could be done. Who doesn’t? What the couple has done is heinous or utterly odious or wicked.
If that kind of act is committed in the Philippines, that will be murder and punishable by the highest possible penalty allowed by Philippine law. That would be death if only the death penalty is still allowed in the Philippines.
Much that Filipinos wanted the couple brought here to the Philippines, but that will be impossible.
The Philippines adhere to the principles of international law.
The Congress of the Philippines, which has the power to enact penal laws, crafted our criminal laws to be in accordance with principles of international law.
In international law, there is this principle which is incorporated in our penal law which says that the Philippines has the only jurisdiction over all crimes or offenses committed within its jurisdiction. There are a few exceptions to this.
But unfortunately, the case of the couple who killed a Filipina in Kuwait does not fall.
If the crime is not committed here in the Philippines or any of its territories, then the Philippines can not have jurisdiction.
So netizens and fellow Filipinos, Much as we would like the couple who perpetrated the wicked act of killing one of the Philippines’ citizens to be brought here to face punishment, that can not be done.
At least justice has been served and the wheel of justice in Kuwait moved at high speed.
Note: Philippine Embassies abroad are considered a Philippine territory. If the crime happens inside the embassy, then the Philippines can acquire jurisdiction over the person of the perpetrator or offender.
You may want to read: