MANILA, Philippines - The Senate foreign relations committee is ready to endorse the ratification of three extradition treaties between the Philippines and Spain, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, and India.
Emerging from her sickbed, foreign relations committee chairman Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago conducted a public hearing that lasted for about 20 minutes, where she gave a general overview of the three agreements.
Santiago defined extradition as the surrender by one state to another of a person who is charged with crime and who is a fugitive from justice.
She explained that there is no need to conduct lengthy hearings since the same treaties were reviewed in the 15th Congress.
The treaties with Spain, India and the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland were not approved in the last Congress due to lack of quorum. Meanwhile, the Philippines and Turkey have vowed to strengthen their defense cooperation and to improve the relationship between their militaries.
The matter was discussed during the visit of Col. Bahadir Dalgic, non-resident military attaché of Turkey to the Philippines, at the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio on Wednesday. – With Alexis Romero