EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 155 March 30, 1987

AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 857

WHEREAS, it is for the best interest of any person temporarily deprived of his liberty that his right to counsel during the period of his arrest be strengthened and be made more meaningful in the light of subtle and sophisticated denials thereof by certain public officers and employees;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, CORAZON C. AQUINO, President of the Philippines, do hereby order:

Sec. 1. Section 1 of Republic Act No. 857 is hereby amended to read as follows;

"Sec. 1. Any public officer or employee or anyone acting under his order or in his place, who shall obstruct, prohibit, or otherwise prevent an attorney entitled to practice in the courts of the Philippines from visiting and conferring privately with a person arrested, at any hour of the day or, in urgent cases, of the night, said visit and conference being requested by the person arrested or by another acting in his behalf, or by a national or international non-governmental organization duly accredited by the Office of the President, shall be punished by prision correccional."

Sec. 2. All laws, orders, issuances, rules and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with this Executive Order are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

Sec. 3. This Executive Order shall take effect (15) days after publication in the Official Gazette.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 30th day of March, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven.


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