THE Supreme Court has already started looking into the complaint of the detainees in the Pampanga Provincial Jail over the slow resolution of their cases in courts.
鈥淚 have already instructed our legal office to look into the veracity of the allegations,鈥� Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said. His office supervises trial court judges nationwide.
He said the high court saw the need to check on the complaint 鈥渕ore so now that the Supreme Court has come out with the Guidelines on Continuous Trial which is being pilot tested in some first- and second-level courts in the National Capital Judicial Region.鈥�
The detainees, in a three-page handwritten letter sent to Marquez, complained about the 鈥渧ery slow setting of hearings in various courts and judges鈥� handling their criminal cases.
鈥淚t (setting of hearings) takes a long time and most of us have almost only one hearing per year鈥� There are those whose cases have ran for 10 to 15 years and still have no resolution up to this day,鈥� said 聽the handwritten letter in Filipino signed by detainees with pending cases before the Regional Trial Court Branches 41 to 48, 54 and 55.
The detainees said they already called the attention of the Executive Judge Divina Luz Simbulan but their pleas were unanswered.
鈥淲e told her about our concerns but she just ignored us,鈥� they said.
鈥淓ven 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,鈥� they lamented.
鈥淲e are hoping for your attention and immediate action, for the sake of our families,鈥� they appealed.
Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno has been targeting speedy resolution of court cases to unclog dockets and decongest jails as part of her judicial reform program.
The SC has also been implementing the Justice on Wheels project for the same purposes.