New prosecutor general takes oath

The new prosecutor general of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) National Prosecution Service (NPS) took oath Tuesday, inheriting a caseload of as many as a thousand complaints per prosecutor in the National Capital Region alone.

Benedicto Malcontento, a private lawyer of 25 years joining government for the first time, took his oath of office before Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who instructed him to prosecute cases regardless of the respondents' or the accused's political color, religious belief, and socioeconomic standing.

"We will be judged by the results. We'll have to deliver the results because the public is expecting it," Malcontento said at a press briefing.

He said Senator Bong Go told him: "Ben, trabaho lang tayo," which he said he took to mean "working to the best of his ability to serve public service."

Malcontento graduated from the University of San Agustin with a degree in political science and obtained his law degree from the San Beda College in 1992. He said he applied for the prosecutor general's post two years ago.

He replaces the retired Victor Sepulveda and takes over from the post that Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon occupied in an acting capacity for a year.

"The position of prosecutor general is a career position and the prosecutor general, whoever holds that office, will be here at the department long after the current SOJ and his undersecretaries are gone," Guevarra said at the press briefing.

Malcontento is assuming the post of NPS prosecutor general at a time when prosecutors in Metro Manila are handling 800 to 1,000 complaints each at any given time, said Justice Undersecretary Adrian Sugay.

The ideal caseload is less than 500, he said, because prosecutors do not only conduct preliminary investigations -- the proceedings which determine whether charges will be filed in court -- but also attend court hearings to prosecute cases.

Sugay said the Supreme Court creates new court branches faster than prosecutors can be appointed. Guevarra said President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed around 50 new prosecutors.

Sugay also said there are 12,000 to 14,000 petitions for review pending at the DOJ. Petitions for review are appeals to prosecutors' resolutions, many of which might have become moot and academic, Guevarra said. — MDM, GMA News