SC chief: Over 120,000 PDLs freed since start of Covid-19 lockdown in 2020

MANILA, Philippines — More than 120,000 persons deprived of liberty or PDLs have been released since the start of the lockdown last year in an effort to decongest jails as the country still fights a pandemic.

Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta on Friday said that from March 17, 2020, to February 11, 2021, a total of 122,178 PDLs have been released.

Peralta, in his acceptance speech during the conferment of Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa degree from the Tarlac State University, admitted that being the head of the Judiciary in the middle of a pandemic is not easy.

“There are no guidelines or rules set in place for such an unfamiliar eventuality. All of us are in an unchartered territory still,” he said.

“What was clear to me then, during the early stages of this crisis, was that the pandemic all the more understood the importance of keeping courts open and accessible,” he said.

Since the start of the new coronavirus pandemic, the high court has issued guidelines to decongest jails.

READ: SC temporarily halts commitment orders to jails under BJMP

In 2020, the Supreme Court ordered an inventory of cases to identify detainees who are qualified for release and hasten court proceedings.

The high court has also followed the skeleton-staffing scheme on all courts, designation of judges on duty, an extension of court deadlines, physical closure of courthouses, and electronic submission of pleadings as well as the conduct of video conferencing.

In fact, court records showed that a total of 192,444 teleconference-hearings have been conducted from May 4, 2020, to February 5, 2021, with a success rate of 88 percent.

Peralta will retire a year early on March 27.

KGA