Pampanga inmates seek SC help over slow justice system

Inmates at the Pampanga provincial jail have written to the Supreme Court (SC) to complain about the snail-paced resolution of their cases in trial courts.

 

In a three-page letter to SC Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez, the prisoners from 10 different detention cells at the provincial jail lamented the "very slow setting of hearings in various courts and judges" handling their criminal cases.

 

"[The setting of hearings] takes a long time and most of us have almost only one hearing per year. There are those whose cases have run for 10 to 15 years and still have no resolution up to this day," read the letter.

 

The letter was handwritten in Filipino and signed by hundreds of detainees whose cases are pending with the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branches 41 to 48, and 54 and 55.

 

The SC's Office of the Court Administrator is in charge of supervising all lower courts and judges in the country.

 

In their letter, the detainees said they have already asked help from San Fernando, Pampanga RTC Executive Judge Divina Luz Simbulan "about our sorry condition here."

 

"But she had no action. We told her about our concerns but she just ignored us," read the letter.

 

The inmates claimed that instead of addressing the slow-pace of their cases, Judge Simbulan allegedly interfered with the management by the jail warden.

 

"She is just muddling up the handling of the facility by our good jail warden because of her continuing pressure on us," they alleged.

 

The detainees told the SC that they are still hoping to be cleared from their cases.

 

"Even if we are detainees, we still hope to start a brand new life with our families. But because of the slow justice system here, our hopes have been destroyed," they lamented.

 

"We are hoping for your attention and immediate action, for the sake of our families," they added.

 

Simbulan is already in hot water after property developer Delfin Lee, who is a detainee at the provincial jail, administratively and criminally charged her also before the Office of the Court Administrator for alleged extortion and gross ignorance of the law.

 

In 2013, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno described as "dysfunctional" the current jail system in the Philippines, a system that forces inmates to take turns in sleeping inside cramped detention cells. Sereno had said that the SC was also thinking of assigning some judges to help areas where court dockets are heavily clogged.

 

That same year, the SC conducted simultaneous hearings and decision-making in the five most populated jail facilities in the country. 

 

Dubbed as "Judgment Day," courts in Manila and Quezon City in Metro Manila; Cebu City; Davao City; and Angeles City in Pampanga heard and decided on cases on the spot in an effort to decongest both Philippine court dockets and prison cells.

 

The SC has since continued with its "Judgment Day" in other parts of the country. —ALG, GMA News