Declog Court Dockets

Recommendations:
Declog court dockets
One of the main issues that the Philippine Criminal Justice System has is the great number of pending
court cases in the country. According to the World Prison Brief, over 63.9% of detainees in jail are still
awaiting trial.1 This number is very concerning because this means that more than half of those inmates in
jail are not even surely guilty of the crimes to which they are accused of committing. Thus, it is unfair and
inhumane to detain inmates under poor jail conditions for long periods of time only for them to be
acquitted in trial if their innocence is proven. This is the same even for those inmates already serving a
sentence of less than three years detained in a jail due to the court imposing a sentence on them.
With that, there is a need for a speedier administration of justice. Senator Dick Gordon, through his
proposed Senate Bill No. 1886, attempted to declog court dockets. He mentioned that there are around
21,269 and 108,484 pending civil cases at first and second level courts as of 2018.2 Although the issue
mentioned only covers civil cases, this means that the disposition of criminal cases are adversely affected.
If the number of pending civil cases is already alarming to the Senate, what more if they included the
number of pending criminal cases. Although there exists the “Speedy trial” act of 1998 or Republic Act
8493, this is insufficient to deal with the number of pre-trial detainees. The number of pre-trial detainees
is still very, referring to the data mentioned above. Thus, it is recommended that, in order to declog court
dockets, the State should further promote different methods of settling disputes for civil cases such as
those belonging to the recognized Alternative Dispute Resolution methods.
Alternative dispute resolution is a form of dispute resolution, different from litigation, but just as
effective. It was institutionalized through the enactment of Republic Act 9285 in 2004. The law was
enacted to as an important means to achieve speedy and impartial justice and declog court dockets. As
such, the State institutionalized ADR and promotes it as a means for its use as an efficient tool and an
alternative procedure for the resolution of appropriate cases.3 With ADR promoted and commonly
resorted to in the country as an effective method of dispute resolution, apart from litigation, the courts
will be declogged of cases. With the number of civil cases decreasing, as parties to a dispute resort to
ADR, there will be more room for criminal cases to be tried and decided upon immediately. Thus, the
promotion of ADR indirectly impacts the speedy administration of justice of pending criminal cases,
which would then decrease the number of pre-trial detainees.
Proper appropriation of funds
According to PHILJA’s assessment of the criminal justice system, the main issue trending through most
of the government agencies mentioned above is the inadequate appropriation of funds to these
1
World Prison Briefs, 2021.Philippines.retrieved from: https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/philippines
2
Press release - gordon's bill that seeks to de-clog dockets in Regional Trial Courts discussed in Senate.
legacy.senate.gov.ph. (2021). Retrieved November 27, 2021, from
http://legacy.senate.gov.ph/press_release/2021/0121_gordon1.asp.
3
Section 2 of Republic Act 9285
government agencies.4 Thus, there is a need for more funds to be appropriated to these agencies in order
for them to achieve their respective purposes as pieces to the pillars of the criminal justice system. To
illustrate, it was mentioned by PHILJA that around 92% of the budget of the Philippine National Police is
devoted to the salaries of police officers and other personnel, or as provided allowances to the same. In
addition, less than 8% of the funds are devoted to the maintenance of facilities and equipment while only
around 1% is devoted to other expenses.5 With that, it seems that there seems to be improper
appropriation of funds. Even though it is very important to give police officers and other employees what
is due to them in compensation of their services as peacekeeping officers, it is also important to maintain
and improve the facilities of the same organization. In addition, funds must also be properly allocated to
the procurement of new devices and equipment that would better provide service to the people. This is
because the money used by these government agencies come from taxes that have been collected from the
people of the Philippines. Thus, the citizens are entitled to quality facilities and services from government
agencies since the former are essentially paying for them. This is not to say that the PNP decrease the
salaries that they provide to their personnel, this recommendation only calls for better management in the
allocation of funds. The appropriation of funds must be carefully monitored, ensuring that they are spent
as intended. It cannot be denied that corruption exists in this country and those improperly appropriating
funds for personal use must be held responsible for their acts. However, if there is genuinely a need for an
increase in budget for a certain government agency, then actions must be taken to ensure that the former
receives what they truly need to better render services to the public.
Training programs must be implemented
Again, according to the assessment of PHILJA, one of the problems existing in the government agencies
mentioned above, most specifically the DSWD, is the lack of training of their personnel.6 The taxpayers,
and those in need, deserve to receive quality service from the government. This is because, it is the
responsibility of the government to ensure the public safety of the people. The people are, therefore,
entitled to receive the services proportionate to their contributions through taxes. It is important to ensure
that the personnel under the government agencies mentioned above are properly trained because they
work in fields that directly affect human life in a substantial way. To illustrate, if a policeman is
improperly trained, and that policeman frantically shoots an innocent bystander due to his lack of training,
the life of that innocent bystander cannot be reverted to what it was before the shooting. The same applies
to the other government agencies. Their lack of or improper training might seem negligible to them but
the impact of their incompetence could lead to drastic consequences. With that, education must take
reform as a whole because this problem does not only occur inside the aforementioned agencies but also
in many other fields, may that be in the private or public sector.
4
Philippine Judicial Academy. (2011). Assessment of the capacity of the pillars of the Philippine criminal justice
system to implement the medium-term development plan for the Criminal Justice System, 2010-2016.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid.

Declog Court Dockets

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Recommendations:

Declog court dockets

Proper appropriation of funds

Training programs must be implemented

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