More than 30 inmates freed on ‘Judgment Day’

NEARLY two years after being jailed for stealing an electric fan, 42-year-old Raymund Roco was released on probation after pleading guilty to theft charges.

Roco was one of more than 30 detainees freed in Cebu City during yesterday’s “Judgment Day”–a program introduced by the Supreme Court to decongest the country’s court dockets and jails.

“I’m very happy. I feel like being lifted up to the air. The life of a prisoner is very difficult,” Roco told reporters in Cebuano after leaving the courtroom of Judge Soliver Peras of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Cebu City.

Roco, a resident of barangay Lahug, Cebu City, was released on good behavior.

The program was also implemented simultaneously in Manila, Quezon City, Davao City and Angeles City in Pampanga.

Court Administrator Midas Marquez said the jail facilities in the five cities had been identified by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) as having the highest inmate population in the country.

In Cebu City, Judgment Day was supervised by Deputy Court Administrator Raul Villanueva and RTC Executive Judge Silvestre Maamo Jr.

Around 30 detainees from Cebu were released after some of them were granted a probation order while the cases of other inmates were dismissed or ended in acquittals.

RTC Judge Macaundas Hadjirasul said the Judgment Day reminds judges to immediately resolve cases within the prescribed period of three months after the case is submitted for decision.

“We admit our judicial system is slow-paced. That’s the truth. It’s like encouraging judges to resolve cases faster,” he said.

Hadjirasul, who released four prisoners yesterday, said Judgment Day reduced the backlog of court cases.

He said the program is similar to the SC’s Enhanced Justice on Wheels (EJOW) where the verdict to release prisoners was issued inside mobile courts.

The EJOW program grants relief to inmates willing to enter a “guilty” plea during their arraignment and served time in jail longer than their sentences. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol