ACCORDING to the law, only a judge could issue a “Hold Departure Order” (HDO), but first, a case must be filed in court, before an HDO could be issued.
What that means is that not even the Senate could issue an HDO, even if it has the power to issue a warrant of arrest.
That said, who is to blame for the alleged departure of Alice Gou from the Philippines?
If in reality, the Senate has issued a warrant, then it could not be blamed.
Moreover, the court system could neither be blamed for not issuing an HDO, because apparently, not a single case has been filed against Gou, at least not yet at that time, as far as I know.
Despite all the time and efforts that have been spent on the hearings surrounding POGOs (Philippine offshore gaming operators) in general and Gou in particular, we are now reminded that the Senate is not a court of law, therefore it could not sentence anyone to go to jail, and neither could it issue HDOs.
Of course, the Senate could detain anyone for contempt, but that is not the same as sending people to jail.
But assuming that an HDO was issued, that is only supposedly the trigger, because the bigger challenge is to quickly transmit the order to all exit points in the Philippines, using the fastest possible means.
As far as I know however, there is apparently no analog or digital communications system that could possibly make that happen. First of all, I doubt if there is really a complete directory of these exit points.
If I am to build such a complete communications system, I will make sure that I will include landline calls, mobile calls, satellite phones, UHF/VHF radios, email, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Viber, WhatsApp, Skype, and even Morse Code if I could.
Of course, even letters and parcels could be used, but these could be extra means only if there is no real emergency.
In many countries, they have a “Be on the Look Out” (BOLO) system that enables local and national law enforcement agencies to keep track of people on the run.
According to www.cleverism.com, a BOLO is used to “officers in other parts of a city or country to be on the lookout for a fugitive, criminal or law offender that is on the run”.
Bottom line, what we need is a BOLO system that could be used to quickly transmit HDOs./PN
