Low conviction rate gives criminals easy time with law — DOJ chief

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla. (FILE) Screengrab from House of Representatives Youtube livestream

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s low conviction rate and uncertainty of punishment give criminals “a heyday, an easy time with the law,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla said Thursday.

Remulla met with Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. to discuss immediate measures to improve the country’s criminal justice system.

He said an efficient criminal justice system with a certainty of punishment is key to minimizing criminality.

“Ang talagang kailangan is yung [What we really need is the] certainty of punishment, and when the conviction rate is very low, then the certainty of punishment goes down. Then, the criminals have a heyday, an easy time with the law,” Remulla said at a press conference.

Currently, Remulla said the country’s conviction rate in criminal cases is less than 25 percent. The rate, he said, includes plea bargaining. In plea bargaining, the accused agrees and pleads guilty to a lesser offense or at least one of several counts of the indictment in exchange for a lighter penalty.

“We are not getting a passing rate. This is not a standard that we can live with. We have to change this drastically,” Remulla said at a press conference.

Both Remulla and Abalos Jr. agreed that amending the rules will take time, so they have to improve what the country has as of now.

“We have to start re-training our law enforcement units in both remedial and substantive laws. When I say remedial, it means such things as surveillance, procedures in conducting arrests, processing of crime scenes and evidence gathered. Every police station should have that skills from the very start,” he said.

At the same time, he acknowledged that there is also a need to clarify the quasi-judicial function of state prosecutors under Rule 112 of the Rules of Court, considering that the DOJ is part of the Executive department.

State prosecutors are under the National Prosecution Service (NPS), currently headed by Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento.

“Quasi-judicial functions should not take precedence over our mandate,” he said.

“The prosecutors working closely with the police yan ang gusto naming mangyari na magkakampi sila at di nagtuturuan. Our emphasis is on prosecution as an executive function,” he added.

Data showed that in drug cases alone, of the 291,393 cases filed from 2016 to July 15, 2022, about 62, 000 or 21 percent resulted in a conviction, 5,753 were dismissed, while 223,579 are still pending in courts or at the prosecutor level.

Both Remulla and Abalos said they would also be meeting with heads of other pillars of the justice system, including Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo.

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