MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino wants the Philippines to have a higher conviction rate than the 14 percent his predecessor had achieved.
This is part of Aquino’s judicial reform agenda in the six years that he will be in office.
In the World View interview on YouTube, Aquino said he has already instructed Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to direct prosecutors to make sure that cases they are pursuing in courts will result in conviction or imprisonment.
“So, under our watch I’ve tasked our secretary of justice to reform that prosecutorial system wherein convictions have to be the primary criteria of having done your job,” Aquino stressed.
When he was still a senator, Aquino said he was surprised to hear that it takes each case at least six years to be adjudicated by the courts – aside from controversial cases that take decades – and that this, he said, should be stopped.
Aquino was told during a Senate budget hearing of the Justice Department that the Philippines’ justice system only has a 14 percent conviction rate, which means 86 percent of cases ended in acquittal or dismissal.
“This was the study funded by the World Bank done by our Supreme Court – and the answer was the affirmative (14 percent conviction rate),” he related.
“And I said, so 86 percent get off scot-free? How do prosecutors get promoted and how are they rated on their performance if they lose 86 times out of a hundred and it takes them six years to do it,” Aquino added.
“And the answer really struck me as the height of, how should I say it, a very cavalier attitude. And I said, your ability to transfer papers from one desk to the other is actually how you are measured on your performance.”
Aquino implied that prosecutors from the Department of Justice should make sure that only those cases that will most likely result in conviction should be filed in courts, and not filing anything just for the sake of making indictments.
“So to determine which cases are solid, which are not, don’t waste the court’s time with frivolous cases and prepare so that the criminals will go to jail,” Aquino said in the one-hour interview.
“My oft-repeated admonition to all the sectors that are involved in attaining our judicial reforms is , simply put, none of our efforts will amount to anything if we are not able to convict anybody,” Aquino reiterated.
“If anybody can commit any crime with impunity then there is no disincentive to stop from doing so, hence, there has to be that conviction – especially of the principals.”
Last September, Aquino told a crowd in Washington DC at the World Bank forum that prospects of removing impeachable officials paid off, and the judiciary has now been more cooperative, lest they suffer the fate of resigned Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.
“I think you will agree that replacing the Ombudsman has already sent a signal. There is also a justice of the Supreme Court awaiting impeachment trial in the House of Representatives,” he related.
“That message alone has already resonated, I think, with the other justices. So what am I trying to say? I think there’s a change in attitude as far as the SC is concerned. They are now more partners than they were before,” Aquino said.
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By: Delon Porcalla
Source: The Philippine Star, Nov. 6, 2011
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