Supreme Court, PNP launch e-warrant system

The Supreme Court (SC) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday launched an "enhanced" electronic warrant or e-warrant system that aims to help improve the administration of justice in the country.

The e-warrant system will serve as an online database of warrants of arrest and provide real-time updates on the status of warrants and actions taken by law enforcement, the SC Public Information Office said.

Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta and newly-appointed PNP chief Camilo Cascolan led the launch.

Judge Maria Gracia Cadiz-Casaclang of the Pasig Regional Trial Court issued the first-ever e-warrant in the country on Tuesday. The case was for qualified theft.

After the initial rollout, authorities aim to implement the paperless warrant system in the 2,600 courts and 1,900 police stations nationwide, the SC PIO said. It said it expects the system to be fully implemented before the year ends.

Under the "enhanced" e-warrant system, warrants will be generated by the system itself after the necessary details are encoded following a court's determination of probable cause.

The warrant will then be transmitted to the concerned police stations, after which police officers will have 10 days to update the court on whether or not it had served the warrant, the SC PIO said.

The SC PIO said all courts can view this real-time feedback mechanism and see whether an accused person has pending cases in other courts.

“With the nationwide roll-out of the Enhanced e-Warrant System, we are able to adopt technologically-advanced innovations in our court processes for a more accessible, efficient, effective and responsive administration of justice," Peralta said.

Cascolan, for his part, said the enhanced e-warrant system "will contribute in securing an ideal scale of effectiveness in crime solution." -MDM, GMA News