Law expert: Economic sabotage case nonexistent in Philippine laws

President Rodrigo Duterte's threat to charge water concessionaires for "economic sabotage" may just well be a remark and nothing more, as Philippine laws don't have such a crime, a law expert said Thursday.

In an interview on Super Radyo dzBB's Dobol B sa News TV, Atty. Rowena Daroy Morales, law professor at the University of the Philippines, said her efforts at reviewing our laws yielded nothing about "economic sabotage" as a crime. 

Atty. Morales: Sinuyod ko ang mga batas. Wala akong mahanap na kasong economic sabotage. Ang pinakamalapit na kaso ay swindling o estafa. Meron ding large scale swindling o malawakang panloloko.

— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) December 5, 2019

In a speech in Malacañang, President Rodrigo Duterte was fuming mad upon learning that the concession agreement between the government and of two water concessionaires —Maynilad and Manila Water—appears to be onerous.

Duterte assailed a provision of the contracts that if the government interferes in the implementation of agreed water rates, the state will indemnify the utility company for any losses suffered.

The President said the people behind the contracts should be held liable for economic sabotage.

But Atty. Morales said "economic sabotage" is just a concept.

Atty. Morales: Ang economic sabotage ay isa lang konsepto o isang generic na salita. Hindi iyan krimen at hindi puwedeng i-charge sa tao.

— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) December 5, 2019

She also hinted that arresting people on the basis of such a concept could be absurd and illogical.

Atty. Morales: Ang problema, kung halimbawa ay puwedeng hulihin ang isang tao at kasuhan ng economic sabotage. Eh pakakawalan din kung walang krimen na ganuon?

— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) December 5, 2019

—LBG, GMA News