Fifteen years ago, the Asian Development Bank said in a report that while justice sector reform has led to the flourishing of new and restructured institutions for the administration of justice, resource limitations and poor management impeded the development and efficiency of said institutions.
It appears that the same challenges continue to be blamed for the delays in the dispensation of justice, especially with regards to cases involving poor litigants.
In the province of Catanduanes, in particular, the two branches of the Regional Trial Court have not had a permanent presiding judge for a year now since the retirement of RTC Branch 42 Presiding Judge Genie G. Gapas-Agbada in July 2023 and RTC Branch 43 Presiding Judge Lelu P. Contreras in February 2022.
A check of the websites of the Supreme Court shows that the judgeship positions in the two RTC branches in the island have yet to be declared vacant despite the fact that when one takes the time to look at the announcements of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), there are enough applicants for vacant RTC judge positions to spare two for Catanduanes.
In the meantime, trials have been mercifully moving along at the two courts ever since RTC Legazpi City Branch 8 Presiding Judge Ritche Regala took on the difficult and physically inconvenient job of taking over the local cases.
He has been shuttling between the mainland and Virac for months now, reporting for duty as acting presiding judge of the two trial courts here every 2nd and 3rd week.
According to one who is familiar with how the court works, the High Court could be deliberately not filling up the vacant judge positions to generate savings, which are either augment inadequate maintenance and operating funds or pooled to become a source of welcome incentives at yearend.
When the public will be given its due of fast and efficient justice, it remains to be seen as long as there are too few judges, prosecutors and public attorneys to handle numerous criminal cases filed by law enforcers that gather into an enormous bottleneck in the judiciary.
There is a glimmer of hope, however, with the recent issuance of the new rules on criminal procedures by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
With the concurrence of the SC, it will now be the prosecutors, not the judges, who will preliminary investigations on complaints filed before prosecution offices as well as inquest proceedings for those arrested without warrant.
The amendment of the Rules of Court would fast-track the trial process since the motion for judicial determination of probable cause is no longer needed.
All prosecutors are now empowered to take the lead in criminal investigations to ensure that there is proper and sufficient case build-up before filing in court.
The DOJ points out that this would also reduce frivolous and harassment suits, as prima facie evidence with a reasonable certainty of conviction is needed by prosecutors and law enforcement officers to ensure that only cases with a strong foundation will proceed to trial.
As complaints with weak and incomplete evidence will be dismissed, the already crowded jail system will not be burdened with respondents being kept on pre-trial detention.
With the prosecutors at the helm of the investigation, it should be incumbent on the police to step up and do better in ensuring that the evidence they gather will survive intense examination during trial and thus result in conviction.
It would be too soon to see justice being delivered within the reglementary period, but justice served well, even if delayed, would be acceptable.